Abstract
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As a result of digitalization, innovations get increasingly generated in inter-organizational communities (Kowalski 2018; Schneider et al. 2019). Due to state-of-the-art information and communication technologies and the global availability of knowledge, it is now possible to access not only internal knowledge and competence but also the external resources of an anonymous mass of internet users (crowd) and thus to integrate those resources into innovation or development processes (Sydow et al. 2016; Roberts et al. 2016; West et al. 2014). This open innovation approach, known as ‘crowdsourcing’, opens up new opportunities for universities to benefit from the swarm intelligence of anonymous and global groups and allows to incorporate the results of public and web-based tenders into their development activities (Schneider & Borchert 2018).
This article will present the empirical findings drawn from 20 expert interviews conducted with professors and lecturers from various disciplines at Saxon universities. During the contribution, a model for the explanation and prognosis of the intended use, based on the Behavioural Reasoning Theory (Westaby, 2005), and the context-specific reasons that promote and inhibit the behaviour, are to be discussed.