11898: Involving Crowds in Science: Boosting Productivity and Bridging the Science-Society Gap

Involving crowds in scientific research has become a powerful approach to advance scientific productivity while also fostering societal impact and helping bridge the science-society gap. Crowd science has become well established in the “hard sciences”, where crowds help with tasks like generating large-scale data sets for biodiversity monitoring, achieving creative breakthroughs in biochemistry projects, or co-developing innovative medical interventions. Although AI reshapes the role of crowds in research, it often amplifies rather than replaces crowd members’ contributions to knowledge production. Interestingly, crowd science approaches remain underutilized in the social sciences, particularly in the field of management and organizational studies. This PDW explores the potential and challenges of involving crowds in these fields. Participants first learn conceptual frameworks that help analyze different crowd science applications and identify potential benefits and challenges. Second, expert talks showcase cutting-edge examples of crowd science projects and discuss cross-cutting themes like the role of AI or the challenges in evaluating crowd contributions. Third, a panel discussion examines why crowd involvement is rare in the social sciences, identifying unique barriers, opportunities, and implications for management research. Finally, roundtables guide participants to explore how crowd involvement may boost productivity and broader impacts of their own research, using tools and frameworks. A plenary discussion concludes the session, synthesizing insights and developing an actionable research agenda. By highlighting crowd science approaches as a methodology to enhance scientific productivity and bridge the science-society gap, this PDW aims to inspire scholars across disciplines to rethink the role of crowds in advancing science.