Crowdsourcing is a business approach based on collective contributions.
It has had successful results in both the private sector and the research field due to the capability to apply the methodology to a variety of disciplines, including technological, operational and managerial ones. Although the topic has been analyzed in a fragmented way throughout the years, this paper has reviewed more than 100 studies in order to define crowdsourcing as a new strategic methodology that provides highquality solutions and successfully brings companies and users together resulting in a productivity increase and innovation growth. Moreover, this article includes a new component to the pillars theory (Hosseini, M., Phalp, K., Taylor, J. and Ali, R., 2014, May. The four pillars of crowdsourcing: A reference model. In Research Challenges in Information Science (RCIS), 2014 IEEE Eighth International Conference on (pp. 1–12). IEEE.), the evaluation mechanism, which validates and corrects the results obtained on the earlier model that relays on crowd selection, platform efficiency, judgment assertiveness, well-defined tasks and objectives. This also applies to solutions aligned with expected outcomes, which could tip the scale toward an optimal result. Finally, the evolution of crowdsourcing activities at a financial institution is analyzed in all levels of its ecosystem: macro-, meso-, micro- and their interdependence. The case study shows that the evaluation mechanism helps not only to identify the best ideas but to align innovation with business strategy and customer satisfaction.
