Crowdsourcing Tools for Worker and Brand Dialog

Globalization has made it possible to source products like clothes and footwear from all over the world. Complex supply chains have made it difficult to know what is really going on in factories, especially in developing countries set far away from the brands themselves. However, the world is drawn closer together with the emergence of new media technology such as the Web 2.0, social media, and mobile internet. This new media technology is becoming accessible for people all over the world. With the emergence of this new technology, crowdsourcing has developed as a method to gather the voices of the people for various projects. Crowdsourcing has previously been researched as methods for businesses to gain ideas for innovations, NGOs for social developments, and for governments to develop policies. This research focuses on three cases of crowdsourcing that has not yet been researched. A multiple-case study has been conducted of the three crowdsourcing tools provided by QuizRR, LaborVoices and Better Factories Cambodia’s project Outstanding Worker. In-depth interviews, product demonstrations, articles, video clips and reports were analyzed. These three cases represent how crowdsourcing can be used to gather the voices of factory workers, especially in developing countries. This study looks into how crowdsourcing can be used to increase the collective agency of workers by collecting information directly from workers, as a counter to existing monitoring practices like factory audits. The study focuses particularly on design of the tools, participation incentives, which issues are communicated and how the systems can make possible exploitation of workers visible. The three cases differ in the mentioned aspects. However, the findings suggest that firstly, sharing information with workers so that they can use this information to solve local problems themselves is central to increase the collective agency of workers. Further, the findings suggest that design, transparency, meaning how the collected data is used, influences the tools’ ability to empower workers and improve working conditions. This study presents a model of the main elements which represent the dynamics in crowdsourcing tools for worker-brand dialog. While the model’s elements suggest how crowdsourcing can be used to give workers a voice and create dialog, it is argued that a communication tool cannot alone solve issues of exploitation. Rather, new communication methods like these are reliant on functioning enforcement mechanisms such as local labor laws, and regulations for ethical production.