Publication: A framework for sustaining users participation in non-profit mobile crowdsourcing applications
Date
2020-10
Authors
Farahidayah Mahmud
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Abstract
Nowadays, mobile devices have increasingly becoming a necessity in people’s daily
life. It has significantly changed the way people communicate and perform their day-to-day activities. In line with this scenario, there is also a practice that is gaining more
and more attention from mobile devices’ users called crowdsourcing. Amongst the
benefits of crowdsourcing is that it can reduce companies’ production cost due to the
reduced manpower. However, these can only be attained if sufficient number of
contributions is received from the crowd, i.e., sufficient users participation. Due to its
nature that relies heavily on users contributions, users participation is one of the main
factors that determine the success of an MCA. Two types of crowdsourcing exist;
profit and non-profit. The decision to focus on the users participation in non-profit
MCA in this research is because sustaining users participation is more challenging and
more critical in non-profit crowdsourcing where financial rewards are not usually
offered to and not expected by the participants. Although a number of studies related
to the factors that influence users participation was found, none of these studies so far
leads towards the formation of a framework that can serve as a guide for the developer
to consider the factors in developing the MCAs. Therefore, the aim of this research is
to develop a framework that can be used by the developers by extending the research
on influencing factors. To do this, literature review and semi-structured interviews
with the MCA users were performed. Results were analysed and coded using constant
comparison method. Six influencing factors from the literature review and five
influencing factors from the interview were found. Factors from both methods were
merged to come out with six influencing factors which are; useful information
provided, financial impact, reward offered, interaction with others, features of
application and self-advancement. Corresponding components were identified to
specifically address the influencing factors. The components were bound together to
enable them to inter-relate with one another and become the framework. The
framework was evaluated using two methods which are expert evaluation and
benchmarking with successful non-profit MCAs. Expert evaluation was chosen to
assess the suitability of the elements that constitute the framework from the perspective
of the software developers who are exposed to crowdsourcing application. Statistical
evaluation was performed to identify the reliability of the instrument (questionnaire).
Cronbach’s Alpha was used to do this evaluation. With the score of 0.978, the
reliability of the instrument used can be concluded as reliable. Benchmarking of
successful non-profit MCAs evaluation is an evaluation that used existing successful
non-profit MCAs to validate the components that constitute the constructed
framework. Two non-profit MCAs which are OpenSignal and Be My Eyes were found
as successful non-profit MCAs that fulfill the requirements as successful non-profit
MCAs. These two MCAs then were used to identify the extent to which these two
MCAs agreed with the components in the framework. Results show ten over eleven
for OpenSignal and eight over eleven for Be My Eyes have the components in the
framework which conclude that these two MCAs have the majority of the components.
It indicates that this framework is relevant and can be used to develop non-profit
MCAs that can sustain users participation. As a conclusion, the framework for
sustaining users participation in non-profit MCAs is found to be useful as a guideline
for the developer to develop an MCA that can sustain users participation.