Chapter 5: Boosting Human Resources Innovation in SMEs Through Crowdsourcing

One of the most prominent features that has emerged in many economies over the past decades is the role of small and medium-sized enterprises. The companies, which are the main driver of the economies in the process of industrialisation and the origin of evolution and innovation and pioneer of the emergence of new technologies, are essential for developing economies such as Iran. Nevertheless, researches and studies show that many small and medium-sized enterprises, with significant investment in research and development, have problems in human resource innovation. At the moment, there are several intelligible forces that can facilitate the process of innovation and provide a solution for SMEs. Many dynamic forces are based on open innovation and crowdsourcing. In fact, crowdsourcing is a new internet-based business model that can be used to provide innovative solutions to problems or to produce a product, and its wide range of applications in various industries are increasingly extracted and used. Therefore, the main objective of this chapter is identifying, classifying, and prioritising the applications of crowdsourcing in SMEs human resources. In this regard, this chapter has been structured in four main sections. First, small and medium-sized enterprises are generally reviewed. Second, the concept of crowdsourcing, its framework and applications are explained. Third, the role of crowdsourcing in small and medium-sized enterprises’ human resource innovation and problem solving is categorised and summarised. Finally, in conclusion and further research, attempts are made to provide solutions to develop human resources innovation in small and medium-sized enterprises through crowdsourcing and providing agenda for further researches in this field.