Abstract
Emerging literature on crowdfunding, until now, is missing detailed empirical analyses on profiles of “crowdfunders”. Our paper aims to address this shortage, analyzing geographical and socio-economic characteristics of crowdfunders, looking at how crowdfunding influences the nature of geography and social contacts in new ventures. Our analysis concentrates on Italy, a country suffering for a huge economic crisis but that, at the same time, is showing a strong dynamism in crowdfunding. We collect data on donors of about 350 projects, estimating with a micro-econometric model not only which donors’ characteristics increase the likelihood of an investment, but also the role played by social media in the crowdfunding process. Our results give some remarkable indications about crowdfunding in different countries and cultural contexts.
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Notes
- 1.
Only Italian crowdfunding platforms active for at least 1 year.
- 2.
Respondents could specify three out of the following eight motives: it is useful project; it is an innovative idea; I expect a reward; I expect to have a share of the profits; I appreciated past initiatives of the project-owner; I want to help the project-owner; I trust the project-owner; other.
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Guerzoni, M., Peirone, D., Pais, I., Miglietta, A. (2016). The Emerging Crowdfunding Market in Italy: Are “the Crowd” Friends of Mine?. In: Brüntje, D., Gajda, O. (eds) Crowdfunding in Europe. FGF Studies in Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18017-5_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18017-5_6
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