A Conceptual Model to Understand the Factors that Drive Individual Participation in Crowdsourcing for Medical Diagnosis

In healthcare, assisted by collective knowledge of a large group of individuals, crowd sourcing is enabling prediction of disease outbreaks and diagnosis of rare medical conditions. This article is a ´Research-in Progress´ that examines the role of Web-based platforms in driving participation of individuals in crowd sourcing services for medical diagnosis. Based on existing literature, a conceptual research model is developed that outlines factors that drive individual participation. A set of propositions based on the research model are developed. A research methodology is proposed with a plan for the empirical analysis. Contributions and implications are discussed.