Structuring Time Through Participation in Micro-task Crowdsourcing: A Time Allocation Perspective.

Small payments in micro-task crowdsourcing markets appear unreasonable compared with remunerations for regular work in the workplace, yet hundreds of thousands of micro-tasks are completed each day, and frequently by highly educated individuals. To explain this perplexing anomaly, we investigate individuals’ continuous participation in micro-task crowdsourcing from a time allocation perspective. Drawing upon the theory of the allocation of time, relative advantage over alternative activities and reservation wage of micro-task crowdsourcing affect intent to continue and expected wage respectively, which in turn have effects on intent to increase participation level. Based on previous research on time structure, we propose time structure as another indicator of continuous participation in micro-task crowdsourcing. More importantly, the negative moderating effect of time is conjectured as a salient driver of continuous participation in micro-task crowdsourcing. IT-enabled time structuring thus helps individuals fill dead time with micro-tasking online in spite of low payments.