  We are seeing more and more organizations undertaking activities to engage
dispersed populations through IS. Using the knowledge-based view of the
organization, this work conceptualizes a theory of Crowd Capital to explain
this phenomenon. Crowd Capital is a heterogeneous knowledge resource generated
by an organization, through its use of Crowd Capability, which is defined by
the structure, content, and process by which an organization engages with the
dispersed knowledge of individuals (the Crowd). Our work draws upon a diverse
literature and builds upon numerous examples of practitioner implementations to
support our theorizing. We present a model of Crowd Capital generation in
organizations and discuss the implications of Crowd Capital on organizational
boundary and on IS research.
