Uncovering Backers’ Intention to Participate in Reward-Based Crowdfunding: The Role of Value Cocreation

Abstract

The ongoing dynamic market evolution has reshaped the way companies can create value, thanks to new funding models and new market opportunities, especially in the early business stages. In particular, with the growing development of crowdfunding models, scholars and practitioners are questioning how backers can cocreate value by funding new entrepreneurial initiatives through digital platforms dedicated to this new form of financial support. Therefore, positioning this article in the knowledge and engineering management literature, the current research explores whether two subdimensions of value cocreation (VCC), knowledge sharing and interaction, may help to understand backers’ intention to participate in a reward-based crowdfunding (RBCF) campaign. In particular, using the partial least square structural equation modeling approach on an original sample of 3574 backers, in this article, we find that knowledge sharing, understood as backers’ expertise as well as the preparedness of the proponent team, and the interaction between the campaign actors contribute to explaining backers’ participation in an RBCF initiative. The research supports the relevance of backers’ engagement in terms of VCC as an experiential benefit for the success of an RBCF initiative. From this perspective, our study suggests that both entrepreneurs and platforms should consider VCC in the design and setting of RBCF campaigns.