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Sustainable Crowdfunding: Value-Adding or Greenwashing?

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Good Practices and New Perspectives in Information Systems and Technologies (WorldCIST 2024)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 987))

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Abstract

Sustainable crowdfunding is becoming increasingly popular among entrepreneurs, but there is a lack of research about the economic, environmental, and social impacts of the projects financed via this source. This paper aims to examine the post-funding phase of sustainability-oriented projects and determine whether they provide the actual sustainability benefits or engage in greenwashing practices. After developing a framework to evaluate the sustainability level of crowdfunding projects, a content analysis is conducted on a sample of 50 projects financed by six European sustainability-oriented crowdfunding platforms. The results indicate that the sample projects have positive impacts on sustainability, but they rarely create value across the entire triple bottom line of economic, environmental, and social impacts. Overall, this study contributes to the literature that seeks to uncover the post-financing outcomes of sustainable projects funded by crowdfunding platforms.

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Acknowledgments

This work is funded by National Funds through the FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., within the scope of the project Ref. UIDB/05583/2020. We would like to thank the Research Center in Digital Services (CISeD) and the Polytechnic of Viseu for their support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Campus Politécnico, 3504-510, Viseu, Portugal

    Nuno Rosário

  2. CISeD - Research Centre in Digital Services, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Campus Politécnico, 3504-510, Viseu, Portugal

    Nuno Melão

  3. Center for Research, Development and Innovation (CINAMIL), Portuguese Military Academy, Rua Gomes de Freire 203, 1169-203, Lisbon, Portugal

    João Reis

  4. Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Engineering, Lusofona University and EIGeS, Campo Grande, 1749-024, Lisbon, Portugal

    João Reis

Authors
  1. Nuno Rosário
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  2. Nuno Melão
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  3. João Reis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nuno Melão .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Álvaro Rocha

  2. College of Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    Hojjat Adeli

  3. Institute of Data Science and Digital Technologies, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Gintautas Dzemyda

  4. DCT, Universidade Portucalense, Porto, Portugal

    Fernando Moreira

  5. Institute of Information Technology, Lodz University of Technology, Łódz, Poland

    Aneta Poniszewska-Marańda

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Rosário, N., Melão, N., Reis, J. (2024). Sustainable Crowdfunding: Value-Adding or Greenwashing?. In: Rocha, Á., Adeli, H., Dzemyda, G., Moreira, F., Poniszewska-Marańda, A. (eds) Good Practices and New Perspectives in Information Systems and Technologies. WorldCIST 2024. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 987. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-60221-4_28

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