This article investigates (a) how serial idea generators in crowdsourcing contests adjust strategies (e.g., exploiting existing expertise and exploring new approaches) over time in response to the relative success of their prior creative ideas, and (b) how these changes in competitive strategies influence subsequent creativity performance. The research was conducted on Threadless, a website that crowdsources the creation of graphic designs through an ongoing competition. Empirical results from a longitudinal sample of 86 serial designers and their 1,714 submissions indicated that a higher level of design expertise was related to less exploration and greater exploitation behavior. Exploitation was also found to contribute to generating ideas that were highly rated by the crowd. For the crowdsourcer’s decision as to whether to transform a submitted idea into a product for sale, neither exploration nor exploitation was found to be significant when controlling for crowd rating. Theoretical and practical implications for crowdsourcing are discussed.

本文研究（a）众包竞赛中的连环创意产生者如何随着时间的流逝而调整策略（例如，利用现有专业知识并探索新方法），以响应其先前创意的相对成功，以及（b）这些竞争策略如何变化影响随后的创造力表现。这项研究是在Threadless网站上进行的，该网站通过正在进行的竞争将图形设计的创作众包。来自86位系列设计师的纵向样本及其1,714名提交者的经验结果表明，更高水平的设计专业知识与更少的探索和更大的开发行为有关。还发现剥削有助于产生受到群众高度评价的想法。为了让众包商决定是否将提交的想法转化为可销售的产品，在控制人群等级时，发现和探索均无意义。讨论了众包的理论和实践意义。