A common goal of current research seems to uncover whether crowdfunding (CF) could be considered an effective way to support sustainability-oriented initiatives in securing funding, due to diverging results emerging from literature. We claim that the objective of proving whether CF may benefit sustainability-oriented initiatives could be misplaced; rather, we deem more fruitful to understand how critical are some attributes of products/services pursued within CF campaigns to benefiting sustainability-oriented initiatives and increasing their odds of success in CF. We focus on food-related projects as in this sector, sustainability issues apply more than to any other human activities and construct a unique sample of food CF campaigns launched and ended in the European Economic Area countries on the world's most popular reward-based CF platform, that is, Kickstarter. We identify campaigns with a sustainability orientation and perform an in-depth qualitative analysis, which allows us to classify them into meaningful clusters and subclusters. Our research suggests that the emphasis on egoistic/self-centered product attributes, rather than on altruistic/society-centered attributes, is generally more crucial to facilitate CF support to sustainability-oriented projects. However, the emphasis on altruistic/society-centered attributes emerges to be more beneficial for initiatives specifically supporting local products. Our results also suggest that rewardbased CF is not suitable for sustainability-oriented projects targeting disadvantaged individuals/groups. These results offer both theoretical and empirical contributions to the literature as well as practical implications.

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We examine the effect of app developers' product line diversification decision on their performance and shed light on whether the type of platform ecosystem (open versus closed) where they commercialize apps influences this effect. We compare the revenue performance of diversified and specialized developers in Apple's App Store and Google Play. We show that in the Apple's App Store (closed platform) diversified developers always display lower performance than their specialized counterparts. In Google Play (open platform) diversification is beneficial in categories where diversified developers have predominant market share, whereas it is detrimental in categories dominated by specialists. Hence, platform supply side users, such as app developers, should factor in the platform ecosystem where they operate when making diversification decisions.

Extant literature has investigated the effects of new ventures' environmental sustainability orientation (ESO) on the crowdfunding (CF) performance and on the ability to secure venture capital, separately and with mixed results. We address the study of these relationships simultaneously. Specifically, we examine how the presence of ESO feature influences new technology-based ventures' ability to secure funding in reward-based CF campaigns and how the CF performance mediates the effect of such feature on attracting subsequent venture capital. Using a sample of new hardware ventures that have launched a CF campaign on Kickstarter, we document a negative effect of the presence of ESO on the CF performance. We also find that, for new hardware ventures using reward-based CF, the presence of ESO has a positive direct effect on the likelihood of receiving subsequent venture capital after CF, as well as a negative indirect effect due to its negative impact on the performance in CF.

Reward‐based crowdfunding (CF) has emerged as a method to solicit funds for innovative projects. Yet, little is still known about the ability of reward‐based CF to act as a signal in the eyes of future consumers, and thus boost the future market performance of new products that innovators intend to commercialize using the campaign funds. In addition, scant research has clarified the boundary conditions that can magnify or weaken the efficacy of this CF signal. Given the relevance of reward‐based CF for supporting innovation, understanding when the CF campaign performance works as an effective signal is of great interest, especially in business settings characterized by high product quality uncertainty. By using the movie industry as a setting, we contribute to fill this gap. Specifically, we argue that the positive effect of the reward‐based CF performance is moderated by two important factors influencing consumers' purchase decisions: the degree of product innovativeness and the expert judgment about the product. Elaborating on the effects of product innovativeness, we posit that this product feature should moderate the positive relationship between CF and subsequent market performances in an inverted U‐shaped fashion. Favorable expert recommendations, on the other hand, should weaken the efficacy of the CF performance as a signal. Results from a sample of 1059 new movies (of which 152 released in theaters) confirm these predictions and offer several remarkable implications for innovators.