Online service or virtual community? Building platform loyalty in reward-based crowdfunding

Abstract

PurposeThis study examines how individual contributors' evaluation of the two aspects in reward-based crowdfunding—service and community—influences the formation of platform loyalty. It also seeks to determine the conditions under which the evaluation is positive.Design/methodology/approachWe collaborated for data collection with two reward-based crowdfunding platforms in South Korea that primarily promote crowdfunding campaigns in the creative domains. We combined the survey data collected from 578 contributors and campaign data from the platforms, empirically examining the formation of platform loyalty and its antecedents.FindingsThe results suggest that service satisfaction with a platform and a sense of belonging to it are positively associated with platform loyalty. We also found that an individual contributor's self-image congruence with the crowdfunding platform is positively associated with service satisfaction and a sense of belonging, while the experience of greater campaign success moderates the relationship in different ways.Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributes to the crowdfunding literature by establishing a theoretical background for understanding reward-based crowdfunding platforms, which combine service and community. It also extends the scope of the literature on crowdfunding by examining the role of platform loyalty at the platform level.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that service and community are both critical for building a sustainable crowdfunding platform. Platform operators are expected to provide high-quality services and foster a sense of community. Identifying and developing contributors with higher self-image congruence with the platforms is essential.Originality/valueWhile previous literature on reward-based crowdfunding has focused on individual contributor- and campaign-level analyses, platform-level knowledge is lacking. This study is among the first to focus on platform loyalty of individual contributors toward reward-based crowdfunding platforms. Moreover, we use both individual-level perception and campaign-level performance variables to examine the formation of platform loyalty.

Crowdfunding for Independent Print Media: E-Commerce, Marketing, and Business Development

“…The observed publications use crowdfunding not solely for raising monetary funds, but also for generating feedback and new ideas, as well as for triggering a marketing effect in terms of awareness and reach generation [31,32,104]. Moreover, the observed organizations tend to build up communities by applying crowdfunding techniques, which serve them as a starting point when launching new follow-up campaigns [167,168]. The use of external agencies to assist during crowdfunding campaigns, as outlined by Behl et al [111] and Du et al [112], could not be observed in the sample.…”

How social media's cause-related marketing activity enhances consumer citizenship behavior: the mediating role of community identification

“…self-image congruence, brand-image congruence and value congruence) to measure perceived fit sub-dimensions; all the scales were from peer-reviewed articles regarding the virtual brand community. Self-image congruence measures the relatedness between the brand's and the consumer's self-image, using three items from Ryu and Suh (2020); brand image congruence measures the degree to which the social cause is congruent with the brand's image, using three items adapted from Song and Kim (2020); value congruence measures the extent to which the core values of the social cause are congruent with the consumer's values, using three items adapted from (Ye et al , 2021). Community identification was measured using five items from Wang et al (2021).…”

“…Self-image congruence is consumer-relationship-focused congruence because it depicts individuals as similar to the image of a given entity, such as a brand, product, or organization (Sirgy et al , 1997). Consumers are more inclined to purchase products that are consistent with their self-image to realize image congruence, which drives loyalty toward the brand's virtual community (Ryu and Suh, 2020).…”

Relationships Between User Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Community with Community Loyalty and Satisfaction

“…Ryu and Suh thought that users’ attitudes towards the service provided by the community and their sense of belonging to the community were two key factors affecting their loyalty. 27 According to the exploration of Koh and Kim on the impact of knowledge-sharing behavior on virtual community loyalty from the perspective of e-business, the loyalty of users to the community can be formed by their sense of community, driven by knowledge-sharing behavior in the virtual community. 28 Virtual community loyalty in this study refers to the willingness of users to repeatedly browse the website and recommend it to others, including attitudinal and behavioral loyalty to the virtual community.…”