Intentions to participate in political crowdfunding- from the perspective of civic voluntarism model and theory of planned behavior

Abstract

The study has integrated the civic voluntarism and planned behavior model to check the intentions of people towards political crowdfunding. Participation in politics is the civic duty of a citizen in a democratic country and exercising this right leads to government formation. Participation in the political process is behavior influenced by the intention to do so. The study examines the influence of the civic voluntarism model (CVM) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) factors on the intention to participate in political crowdfunding. The study was done in India, the largest democracy in the world, taking a sample size of 374 respondents. Partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data through SmartPLS-3.2. The results of this study revealed that resources - financial, time, and technological - are essential for participating in political crowdfunding. Political engagement, political interest, and political awareness are significantly associated with the intention to participate in crowdfunding. Online community engagement also shows a positive relationship with the intention. Among the three factors of TPB, attitude and subjective norms are significantly influencing the intention towards participation. The results of this study will help the political parties and candidates to identify factors that will help them to get maximum funding and support from the crowd through political crowdfunding. The theoretical implication is that political crowdfunding can come up as a distinct segment of crowdfunding to be studied.