WHAT INFLUENCES US TO SUPPORT A CROWDFUNDING PROJECT? A FACTORIAL SURVEY ANALYSIS TO VALIDATE AND EXTEND EXISTING KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

There is abundant research on the factors that influence backers’ decision to support a crowdfunding project. Yet work validating existing results and offering in a single study a direct comparison of those factors among crowdfunding types is needed. We draw upon the theory of perceived values and examine empirically which perceived values influence backers’ decision across equity, lending and reward-based crowdfunding. We employ a factorial survey that testes how changing the type of crowdfunding (ceteris paribus) alters the significance of the perceived values that a project must demonstrate in order to attract funding. A total of 337 participants evaluated one of the three variations of the same crowdfunding project with a manipulation of the type of reward that was offered (shares for equity, interest rate for lending and product for reward-based). Our findings validate and extend existing results, confirming the heterogeneity in backers’ decision-to support a project.