Are we missing the platforms for the crowd? Comparing investment drivers across multiple crowdfunding platforms

Dushnitsky, G and Fitza, M (2018) Are we missing the platforms for the crowd? Comparing investment drivers across multiple crowdfunding platforms. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 10 (e00100). ISSN 2352-6734

Abstract

Crowdfunding platforms have attracted the attention of practitioners and scholars alike. The term ‘crowdfunding’, first coined in the early 2000s, describes a new institutional form in the financial markets which utilizes digital platforms to originate and aggregate funding. There is abundant research on the topic. Yet extant work mainly consists of single-platform studies. We argue that observing patterns on one platform does not necessarily advance our understanding of other platforms. Specifically, we use data from eight major crowdfunding platforms to conduct a variance decomposition analysis of funding success. The findings suggest factors associated with success in a given platform do not replicate to the other platforms. It underscores the generalizability challenge facing the crowdfunding literature. We therefore highlight the need to complement single-platform studies with cross-platform studies.