Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
10.3
Motivations of Supporters and Creators to Participate
in Crowdfunding
To know how crowdfunding performs, it is important to understand the motivations
that move creators and supporters to participate in this collective fi nancing method.
Helm (
2011
, cited by Damus
2014
) identifi ed factors for fi nancially supporting
crowdfunding projects by grouping them in three categories: intrinsic self-
determined, extrinsic self-determined and foreign-extrinsic. She also indicates the
weight and infl uence of each factor from 1, most relevant, to 9, less relevant.
Below we include a diagram (see Fig.
10.1
) that illustrates how Helm under-
stands the functioning of supporter's motivations.
By seeing the motivations expressed in Fig.
10.1
, we perceive the active role of
donors who, when funding projects, apart from helping people to develop their
ideas, also perform actions such as being involved in a group or recognising and
exerting a responsible action. To complete the proposal of Helm (
2011
), we sum-
marise some of the motivations that creators and supporters have to participate in
crowdfunding actions according to Bellefl amme et al. (
2010
), Gerbner and Hui
(
2012
) and Hemer (
2011
, cited by Willems
2013
).
The motivations included on the table (see Table
10.1
) comprise motives of cre-
ators and of donors to participate in crowdfunding projects. Studying the type of
projects most funded could help to guess which type of creations users prefer. In this
line, Jian and Usher (
2014
) analysed the behaviour of the donors in a crowdfunding
journalism platform named Spot.Us. They found that users funded reports focused
on news 'you can use', that is, news topics that are of immediate utility to them in
daily living.
Creators and supporters who participate at crowdfunding projects share the inter-
est on contributing in communities and/or in collective causes. This interest of being
Extrinsic
self-determined
Foreign-extrinsic
Intrinsic
self-determined
1. Idealism
3. Membership
4. Empathy
6. Consideration
7. Recognition and
sponsibility
2. Entertainment
5. Curiosity
responsibility
8. Guilt
9. Subjective norm
Fig. 10.1
Motivation factors for supporting crowdfunding projects, according to Helm (
2011
cited by Damus
2014
)
