Business Commons^™

How To Attract Low Prosocial Funders In Crowdfunding? Matching Among Funders, Project Descriptions, And Platform Types, Yuanqing Li, Frank Cabano, Pingshu Li

Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Highlights

• Crowdfunding research shows inconsistent evidence about the impact of prosocial project description on crowdfunding success.

• We integrate elaboration likelihood model and language expectancy theory and propose distinct decision-making patterns from high and low prosocial motivation funders.

• Our findings show low prosocial participants are more likely to contribute to a project that aligns platform types (donation-based vs. reward-based) and prosocial project descriptions (high vs. low).

• We did not find these alignment effects for high prosocial participants.

Abstract

The amount of crowdfunding research that investigates funding success factors has been increasing. The existing research shows inconsistent evidence regarding how a prosocial …

More Voices Persuade: The Attentional Benefits Of Voice Numerosity, Hannah H. Chang, Anirban Mukherjee, Amitava Chattopadhyay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The authors posit that in an initial exposure to a broadcast video, hearing different voices narrate (in succession) a persuasive message encourages consumers’ attention and processing of the message, thereby facilitating persuasion; this is referred to as “the voice numerosity effect.” Across four studies (plus validation and replication studies)—including two large-scale, real-world datasets (with more than 11,000 crowdfunding videos and over 3.6 million customer transactions, and more than 1,600 video ads) and two controlled experiments (with over 1,800 participants)—the results provide support for the hypothesized effect. The effect (1) has consequential, economic implications in a real-world marketplace, (2) is more …

Alternative Sources Of Financing And The Sustainability Of Cameroonian Start-Ups, Félix Zogning, Mireille Bityé, Massoussi Ma Goued Samuel Emile

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

The objective of the paper is to assess the contribution of alternative sources of financing to the survival of SMIs through an analysis of start-ups in Cameroon. Our study employs a qualitative multisite case study methodology. Data was collected from both documentary and primary sources. For the primary data, we conducted semidirected interviews with five start-ups operating in four fields of activity (agriculture, health, finance and ICTs) to assess in depth the behaviour of various promoters who have received alternative financing at least once. The results of our manual and automated analysis led to two major findings: firstly, it is …

Essays On Behavioral Decision Making In Crowdfunding Environments, Bright Frimpong

Theses and Dissertations

Crowdfunding has revolutionized the world of financing. From entrepreneurs to financially excluded individuals seeking funding for essential projects, crowdfunding provides an expansive platform for project founders to raise needed capital for pending or ongoing projects. In addition to raising capital, founders also use crowdfunding to test market an idea, gain exposure for future funding, gain validation, and build trusting relationships with backers (Zhou et al., 2018). However, the success of crowdfunding is dependent on crowd participation- backer support and funding. The importance of crowd participation in crowdfunding is not limited to project funding, but also building public involvement and support …

Centering Transgender Consumers In Conceptualizations Of Marketplace Marginalization And Digital Spaces, Beck Hansman, Jenna Drenten Ph.D.

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The purpose of this study is to center transgender consumers in the conceptualizations between marketplace marginalization and digital spaces. We examine trans-gender crowdfunding as a hashtag-bounded digital space created by and for the transgender community–namely, the #TransCrowdFund digital space on Twitter. We draw on trans digital geographies as a novel analytical lens to focus attention on transgender consumers' unique experiences in and between digital spaces. Through qualitative hashtag mapping, we analyzed a sample of 200 Twitter profiles and accompanying tweets drawn from individuals using the#TransCrowdFund hashtag. Findings suggest transgender consumers utilize crowdfunding as a hashtag-bounded digital space in three ways: …

Signalling In Donation Crowdfunding: The Role Of Mixed Product And Ideological Bundling, Bright Frimpong, Emmanuel Wusuhon Yanibo Ayaburi, Francis K. Andoh-Baidoo, Xuan Wang

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Crowdfunding projects depend on signalling to demonstrate authenticity. However, literature on signalling has focused on investment and reward crowdfunding with lesser emphasis on donation crowdfunding. This study adopts the signalling theory and bundling concepts to explore the impact of two validation mechanisms on donation crowdfunding outcomes. Drawing from the literature on bunding and signalling, we investigate the impact of a mixed product bundling strategy (community pot mechanism) and ideological bundling strategy (thirdparty signalling) on donation project success. Based on data from Mchanga.com, our findings indicate that the mixed product bundling strategy positively influences project amount of funds raised and backer …

Overcoming Bias Against Funding Of Female-Led Entrepreneurial Initiatives: The Democratizing Influence Of Online Crowdlending Platforms, Shivendu Pratap Singh, Trina A. Sego, Shikhar Sarin

Marketing Faculty Publications and Presentations

Crowdlending platforms are becoming an increasingly prominent alternative funding channel for marginalized entrepreneurs to traditional financing. We examine whether the gender bias generally seen in conventional funding channels extends to the funding of female-led ventures in online platforms and how this potential bias affects service businesses. Our analysis of the KIVA crowdlending platform suggests that while online crowdlending platforms exert a democratizing influence on the funding of female entrepreneurial ventures, female-led service businesses were less able to get financing, mainly for larger loan amounts and longer loan terms. Our findings have significant implications for female entrepreneurs working for marginalized/social causes.

The Effects Of Network Structure And Social Information On Contribution Performance On Crowdfunding Platforms: An Experimental Investigation, Yanni Hu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The long-term potentiality of online communities and activities depends critically on contribution behaviors of online individuals. In this dissertation, this study deepen and extend our understanding of contribution behavior by applying contributions to crowdfunding platforms, whereas social networks, social information, and social influence affect people’s contribution decisions, which in turn influences their contribution performances. Specifically, this study looked into how contribution behavior at crowdfunding platforms is shaped at a fundamental level of social interactions initiated by social and information technologies on contribution performance, using online and natural experiments as study methodologies.

Examining the effects brought by online social interactions on …

The Effects Of Online Reviews And Promotional Messages On Product Performance : Review Helpfulness And The Power Of Language, Ziru Bao

Lingnan Theses and Dissertations (MPhil & PhD)

This dissertation contains two essays. For Essay One, previous studies on review helpfulness focus on what makes a review helpful and how to predict review helpfulness. In so doing, researchers hope to identify the most helpful reviews for consumers and improve the recommendation system. However, little is known about the effect of these helpful reviews on product performance. Thus, this paper investigates how helpful reviews or the helpfulness votes influence product sales. Since product sales are only available at the group (product) level, estimating the effect of helpfulness votes presents a challenging multilevel problem. This research considers both the disaggregating …

Covid-19 For Crowdfunding: Catalyst Or Deterrent? Evidence From Russia, Evgeny Torkanovskiy, Alexander Voinov

The Indonesian Capital Market Review

This paper explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on crowdfunding by analyzing a 2-year sample of 7,024 rewards-based crowdfunding campaigns on the two major Russian platforms. The study employs a digital methods approach to demand and supply and multiple regression analysis. The findings show that COVID-19 and the associated lockdown had no immediate and straightforward effect on the crowdfunding sector, neither on backers nor on campaigns’ initiators. Thus, the crowdfunding sector unlike some other investment classes remains resilient to the global pandemic. Beyond that, empirical analysis revealed the undescribed phenomenon of sponsors’ readiness to finance projects being highly seasonal …

Late To The Crowd: How Ohio's Crowdfunding Bill Fails To Achieve Inclusiveness And Efficiency, Nathan E. Hill

Cleveland State Law Review

Almost half of all small and medium sized businesses within the United States fail within the first five years. One of the main contributing factors to that failure is the inability to raise enough money to operate. While there are many ways for businesses to raise operating capital, the most accessible and sometimes the most efficient way is through a process called equity-based crowdfunding—the offering of shares in exchange for an investment raised through an online portal. In 2012, after seeing the success of equity-based crowdfunding in other countries, the United States passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS …

Minority And Women Small Business Owners Need Increased Access To Equity Capital, Kurt Stanberry

Southern University College of Business E-Journal

The coronavirus pandemic has been disproportionately difficult for small businesses owned by women and minorities (MWBE’s). Exacerbating the problem is that MWBE’s face multiple obstacles to overcome in the process of attempting to raise equity capital, an important and necessary step to weather a business downturn in a period of recession. Congress initially addressed the equity capital challenge for MWBE’s in 2012 when it passed the JOBS Act. However, that program has turned out to be only moderately successful, and the U.S must do more to facilitate the access to equity capital for minority and women entrepreneurs, especially in light …

Designing Persuasive Crowdfunding Videos, Hannah H. Chang, Anirban Mukherjee, Amitava Chattopadhyay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Voiceover narration is a production technique commonly used in reward-based crowdfunding videos. We posit that in these videos, hearing more narrator voices describing the crowdfunding product can systematically influence consumers’ attention and processing of the message, thereby facilitating persuasion. We employed a multi-method approach, including experimentation, natural language processing, text mining, and machine learning. Results across four studies—including real-world datasets and controlled experiments—show that the effect (1) has consequential, economic implications in a real-world marketplace, (2) is more pronounced when the message is easier to comprehend, and (3) is more pronounced when consumers have the capacity to process the narrated …

Designing Persuasive Voiceover Narration In Crowdfunding Videos, Hannah H. Chang, Anirban Mukherjee, Amitava Chattopadhyay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Across four studies (real-world datasets and controlled experiments), we find that consumers who heard a persuasive message voiced by multiple narrators (vs. one narrator) would be more receptive to the new product in crowdfunding videos and video ads.

When The Social Networks And Internet Come To The Rescue Of Entrepreneurs: The Problematic Of Crowdfunding In Africa, Omenguele Rene Guy, Mbouolang Yimpi Cedric

The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance

Since 2007, crowdfunding platforms have abounded on the web. It is estimated at 2.5 billion dollars the potential of the crowdfunding market in sub-Saharan Africa by 2025. The objective of this paper is to make an inventory of Crowdfunding activities in Africa, region with a most restrictive access to bank loan by SMEs, start-ups and young entrepreneurs. It appears from the economic and socio-cultural realities that Africa is a region with more potential catalyst for crowdfunding industry takeoff. However, there are many factors which are presented in this study as potential inhibitors of African CF market competiveness. This study has …

The Devil Is In The Details: The Effect Of Nonverbal Cues On Crowdfunding Success, Yuanqing Li, Nan Xiao, Sibin Wu

Information Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many reward-based crowdfunding platforms encourage entrepreneurs to introduce their projects and make a personal appeal with a video clip. In this study, we investigate the impact of such a pitch video on financing outcomes. Grounded in social perception literature, we propose that effective use of nonverbal cues in a pitch video increases funding success. We coded and analyzed videos of crowdfunding campaigns and found that an entrepreneur could improve the funding outcomes by gazing less, appearing early, and reducing speech hesitations in a pitch video. We also found that smiling has no impact on funding success.

Sinwattana: Capital Crowdfunding For Thai Smes, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

A Singaporean entrepreneur falls in love with Thailand, and creates the country’s first online equity crowdfunding platform

Understanding The Nature And Dimensions Of Litigation Crowdfunding: A Visual Analytics Approach, Viju Raghupathi, Jie Ren, Wullianallur Raghupathi

Publications and Research

The escalating cost of civil litigation is leaving many defendants and plaintiffs unable to meet legal expenses such as attorney fees, court charges and others. This significantly impacts their ability to sue or defend themselves effectively. Related to this phenomenon is the ethics discussion around access to justice and crowdfunding. This article explores the dimensions that explain the phenomenon of litigation crowdfunding. Using data from CrowdJustice, a popular Internet fundraising platform used to assist in turning legal cases into publicly funded social cases, we study litigation crowdfunding through the lenses of the number of pledges, goal achievement, target amount, length …

How Do Monetary Incentives Influence Giving? An Empirical Investigation Of Matching Subsidies On Kiva, Zhiyuan Gao, Zhiling Guo, Qian Tang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Matching subsidies, through which third-party institutions provide a dollar-for-dollar match of private contributions made through selected campaigns, have served as effective tools to boost fundraising. We utilize a quasi-experiment on a prosocial crowdfunding platform to examine the effectiveness of matching subsidies in shaping funding outcomes and lender behaviors. Although matching subsidies offer matched loans competitive advantages over unmatched loans, we find that total private contributions made to both matched and unmatched loans increase compared to their prematching counterparts, suggesting a positive spillover effect on unmatched loans. However, matching subsidies lead to decreased private contributions made on the platform after a …

Emergence Of Private Markets And Exchanges As An Alternative Source Of Financing For Small- And Medium-Sized Enterprises (Sme) In Singapore, Ser Keng Ang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the engine for growth for any economy, whether big or small and developed or emerging. In the US, small firms with less than 500 employee represent 99% of all employers, provide over 80% of net new jobs and account for about one-half of the national workforce. Singapore is no exception. Hence, the well-being of the SME sector in Singapore bears huge importance in the growth and development of its economy.In practice, financing of private companies, particularly small companies, is a challenge. In general, their small size makes private firms more susceptible to exogenous shocks. …

Crowdfunding Digital Platforms: Backer Networks And Their Impact On Project Outcomes, Yee Heng Tan, Srinivas K. Reddy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Crowdfunding platforms serve to connect project creators and backers. Previous research has explored several project and platform determinants that impact crowdfunding outcomes. However, there has been limited research on these determinants at an individual level. Our paper addresses how backers may influence the outcomes of projects in crowdfunding platforms. We explore several methods commonly used in the industry to identify influence and show that centrality measures through a backer affiliation network best exemplifies influence. Using data from Kickstarter, we construct a weighted backer network based on 52,678 common projects backed by 11,134 backers. Controlling for digital media mentions and project …

Making The World A Better Place: How Crowdfunding Increases Consumer Demand For Social-Good Products, Bonnie Simpson, Martin Schreier, Sally Bitterl, Katherine White

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Crowdfunding has emerged as an alternative means of financing new ventures wherein a large number of individuals collectively back a project. This research specifically looks at reward based crowdfunding, where those who take part in the crowdfunding process receive the new product for which funding is sought in return for their financial support. This work illustrates that consumers make fundamentally different decisions when considering contributing their money to crowdfund versus purchase a product. Six studies demonstrate that compared to a traditional purchase, crowdfunding more strongly activates an interdependent mindset and, as a result, increases consumer demand for social-good products (i.e., …

Two Sides Of The Same Coin: Essays Investigating The Founder And Backer Dynamics Of Crowdfunding, Ruben Ceballos

Theses and Dissertations

Crowdfunding provides the opportunity for entrepreneurs to acquire capital for their projects by utilizing a platform that allows the masses to provide funds towards the completion of the project. Thus, it can be looked at as two sides of the same coin. On one side you have the entrepreneurs seeking the funds otherwise known as founders, and on the other are those that provide the funds also known as backers. The purpose of this study is to investigate what factors lead to founders successfully attaining their funding, what motivates backers to support the projects, and whether the founders can deliver …

Crowdfunding Platforms: Ecosystem And Evolution, Yee Heng Tan, Srinivas K. Reddy

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Crowdfunding is the practice of seeking support from a large number of backers, each funding a small amount, in order to reach a specific funding goal. This monograph examines: (1) the field of crowdfunding, (2) how it has evolved, (3) the impact crowdfunding has on the fields of innovation, marketing and finance and (4) the factors that can affect crowdfunding outcomes. We view crowdfunding as complementary and transformative, increasing the efficiency of several existing processes such as idea generation and testing, fund raising and collection. We combine practitioner perspectives and research findings to provide insights on this subject. We explore …

Equity Crowdfunding In The United States: Evolution, Determinants And Performance, Kenny Ozuna

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, equity crowdfunding has developed into an alternative form of early stage financing for startup firms. The main purpose of this dissertation is to understand the evolution, process and regulation of equity crowdfunding in the United States as well as assess the determinants of a successful campaign and whether this capital market lead to an enduring business.

The first essay examines the evolution, process and regulation surrounding equity crowdfunding. I establish a clear definition of crowdfunding and its restructuring of the music industry to establishing an alternative form of raising capital for nascent firms via equity crowdfunding. I …

Global Challenges And Regulatory Strategies To Fintech, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Nydia Remolina

Centre for AI & Data Governance

The rise of new technologies has changed the operation, regulation and supervision of financial markets, bringing new challenges and opportunities for consumers, regulators, and financial institutions. This Article seeks to explore the most common regulatory strategies used by financial regulators around the world to address the challenges associated with the rise of fintech. These strategies include the imposition of bans, regulatory passivity, adoption of new legislation, permission on a case by case basis, and more interactive approaches such as innovation offices, accelerators and sandboxes. This Article argues that the adoption and desirability of each regulatory approach will depend on a …

Raising Funds In The Era Of Digital Economy, Deserina Sulaeman

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

The rapid advancement in technology and internet penetration have substantially increased the number of economic transactions conducted online. Platforms that connect economic agents play an important role in this digital economy. The unbridled proliferation of digital platforms calls for a closer examination of the factors that could affect the welfare of the increasing number of economic agents who participate in them.

This dissertation examines the factors that could affect the welfare of agents using the setting of a crowdfunding platform where fundraisers develop campaigns to solicit funding from potential donors. These factors can be broadly categorized into three distinct groups: …

Understanding The Dimensions Of Medical Crowdfunding: A Visual Analytics Approach, Jie Ren, Viju Raghupathi, Wullianallur Raghupathi

Publications and Research

Background: Medical crowdfunding has emerged as a growing field for fundraising opportunities. Some environmental trends have driven the emergence of campaigns to raise funds for medical care. These trends include lack of medical insurance, economic backlash following the 2008 financial collapse, and shortcomings of health care regulations.

Objective: Research regarding crowdfunding campaign use, reasons, and effects on the provision of medical care and individual relationships in health systems is limited. This study aimed to explore the nature and dimensions of the phenomenon of medical crowdfunding using a visual analytics approach and data crawled from the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform in 2019. …

Liability Of Newness, Startup Capabilities And Crowdfunding Success, Sahangsoon Kim

Asia Marketing Journal

Though crowdfunding has emerged as a cost-effective means to market innovative products and a channel for financial resource acquisition, our understanding about what makes a successful crowdfunding is still limited. This study is motivated by the presence of the inconsistency that both entrepreneurs and investors pay more attention to capabilities required for developing prototype products rather than capabilities needed to deliver the promised products in crowdfunding. By drawing insights from studies about liability of newness and legitimacy in institutional theory, this study argues that startups can overcome the liability of newness, earn investor trust, and successfully complete crowdfunding campaigns by …

Essays Of The Visual Effects On Online Human Decision-Making And Data Science Applications, Jian-Ren Hou

Information Systems & Operations Management Dissertations

How human makes decisions online is an important research area in IS, many different techniques and online scenarios are used to probe into the related issues. In the first essay, this study investigates the crowdfunding platform. This study uses a deep neural network to extract the emotion metrics from the project images on the crowdfunding platform. The result shows that emotions in project images such as sadness and contentment can positively affect the performance of crowdfunding projects. This study also provides possible designs to change the emotions in the project images. In the second essay, this study investigates how to …