The Role of Crowdsourcing in Political Decision-Making

Abstract

Engaging citizens in collaborative forms of governance is increasingly being seen as a ‘crucial avenue in confronting the complexity of societal problems’ (Prpic et al., 2017). Crowdsourcing has emerged as an important tool for not only soliciting the collective intelligence and knowledge of individuals within societies, but also as a means by which to engage citizens in the democratic processes that shape their lives. Despite the proliferation of crowdsourcing platforms in recent years, surprisingly little is known about their deployment and use within a governmental context. This essay provides a comprehensive review of the literature on crowdsourcing for political decision-making in an attempt to address this paucity. Drawing on a systematic analysis of 71 peer-reviewed journal articles, key findings are synthesized in answer to questions concerning the potential benefits of using crowdsourcing in governmental context, the limitations and challenges of its use, and what recommendations can be made for the successful implementation of crowdsourcing in the political arena. The research highlights the importance of understanding the resource considerations of utilizing crowdsourcing in state contexts, noting that while citizens themselves are often keen to participate in public policy and decision-making using digital platforms, there are issues of digital divides, a lack of granular Internet connectivity and access, issues of public trust and transparency, and privacy concerns that limit the rate of involvement and participation. Nevertheless, governments and public organisations are recommended to embrace crowdsourcing as a means of enhancing the quality of policy decisions, and are encouraged to do so using more contest-based and contributory approaches that work in concert with more traditional forms of citizen engagement, rather than the simpler data mining and idea collection exercises crowdsourcing is often utilised for.

 Keywords crowdsourcing, political decision-making, citizen engagement, democratic processes, public policy, digital platforms, resource considerations, transparency issues