Crowdfunding in Russia: a thematic analysis of funder motives

Abstract

The availability and sufficiency of financial resources is a crucial element for the success of any business. Entrepreneurs always find it problematic to get the needed capital through classic sources of funds like banks or angel investors. This challenge expedited the development of new financial tools, for instance, crowdfunding, which has become a viable alternative for entrepreneurs in many case. Among various angles of studying the phenomenon of crowdfunding, understanding reasons for people's participation becomes vital for constructing a uniformed body of knowledge about this phenomenon. This study, undertaken in the context of Russia, is aimed to identify possible reasons of funders' participation so as to explain why people are ready to give their money for underdeveloped projects and ideas by just relying on promises of entrepreneurs without major guarantees on future success. A thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with users of a Russian crowdfunding platform Planeta has been undertaken to provide a scenario of potential reasons for participation in this activity. The received data allows dividing them into two main groups - external and internal - depending on their relevance to project characteristics or personality of users.