User Behavior in Crowdfunding Platforms -- Exploratory Evidence from Switzerland

An Exploratory Analysis of Title II Crowdfunding Success

“…Successful projects gather support quickly, and the early support translates into successful fundraising campaigns [4]. Evidence from Kickstarter is consistent with the observations from the Swiss platform.…”

The Role of Psychology in Understanding Online Trust

“…Rewards range from an acknowledgement in the credits of a film being produced from the funding, to a discounted pre-order version of a product being launched as a result of the campaign (Mollick, 2014). The second model to consider is equity-based, whereby funders receive partial equity in the business they are supporting, and as such their contribution is acknowledged through on-going financial recuperation (Rakesh, Choo, & Reddy, 2015;Beier & Wagner, 2016). In addition to different campaign models, there are also two distinct investment structures for crowdfunding (as described in Gerber, Hui, & Kuo, 2012).…”

“…A majority of the research in the field of crowdfunding has focused on investment patterns and trends in the success of campaigns. Within reward-based campaigns, there is a trend for an inverted bell curve pattern of funding behaviour, whereby support peaks at the beginning of the campaign and rapidly declines until the deadline approaches, when a surge in funding activity occurs in successful campaigns (Kuppuswamy & Bayus, 2013;Beier & Wagner, 2016;Agrawal, Catalini, & Goldfarb, 2014). The initial peak in funding at the early stages of the campaign often comes from friends and family of the creator (Horvát, Uparna, & Uzzi, 2015), which is evidenced by geographical patterns in the location of funders (Agrawal, Goldfarb, & Catalini, 2011).…”

“…The increase in activity as a project nears its closing date may indicate a deadline effect, something which has been acknowledged by researchers considering bidding in online auctions (Ariely & Simonson, 2003). Alternative explanations consider that risk averse funders wait until later in the campaign as they can identify whether a project will meet its funding target (Beier & Wagner, 2016), or that funders feel contributions at this stage are more meaningful, as they are pushing the campaign closer to its target, enhancing the philanthropic nature of their support (Kuppuswamy & Bayus, 2017).…”

Crowds, Movements & Communities?!

“…Social Media Kanäle und Plattformen erlauben in diesem allen Beteiligten eigene Profile anzulegen, eigene Nachrichten zu schreiben, sich zu vernetzen und Inhalte zu verbreiten (Kaplan und Haenlein 2010: 61). Diese Form der Vernetzung geht mittlerweile sogar soweit, dass beispielsweise Akteure auf Crowdfunding-Plattformen einfach Projekte anlegen können und über Online-Netzwerke mögliche Gleichgesinnte zur finanziellen Unterstützung aufrufen können, um damit karitative oder innovative Projekte zu finanzieren (Beier und Wagner 2015, 2016a. Insgesamt hat sich dadurch eine wesentlich komplexere Interaktionsstruktur ergeben, in der alle Beteiligten sich mit allen anderen vernetzen können und mit diesen auf verschiedenste Weisen interagieren oder eigene Inhalte (User Generated Content) veröffentlichen können (Kaplan und Haenlein 2010: 61).…”