IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jmathe/v9y2021i21p2757-d668613.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Attracting the Right Crowd under Asymmetric Information: A Game Theory Application to Rewards-Based Crowdfunding

Author

Listed:
  • Francisca Jiménez-Jiménez

    (Departamento de Economía, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain)

  • Maria Virtudes Alba-Fernández

    (Departamento de Estadística e I.O., Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain)

  • Cristina Martínez-Gómez

    (Departamento de Economía, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain)

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate rewards-based crowdfunding as an innovative financing form for startups and firms. Based on game-theory models under asymmetric information, we test research hypotheses about the positive effects of two main campaign features: funding target and number of rewards. Furthermore, we examine how and when these characteristics are effective in attracting crowdfunders, by signaling high-quality projects (target) and by pricing according to backers’ preferences (rewards). Conditional process analysis is applied to a dataset of 1613 projects launched on the Spanish platform Verkami from 2015 to 2018. As expected, our study shows that market size is positively influenced by the target and the number of rewards, separately. Further analysis gives some interesting findings. Firstly, we find significant and positive mediating roles of social networks (in the relationship between target and market size) and of backers’ preferences (between rewards and market size). Secondly, the main orientation of a campaign, commercial or social, is relevant to explain previous relationships. While high funding targets are more effective in commercial projects, a high number of rewards is more effective in the social projects. This research provides new insights into the design of optimal crowdfunding, with theoretical and empirical implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Francisca Jiménez-Jiménez & Maria Virtudes Alba-Fernández & Cristina Martínez-Gómez, 2021. "Attracting the Right Crowd under Asymmetric Information: A Game Theory Application to Rewards-Based Crowdfunding," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(21), pages 1-23, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:9:y:2021:i:21:p:2757-:d:668613
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/9/21/2757/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/9/21/2757/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Parker, Simon C., 2014. "Crowdfunding, cascades and informed investors," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 125(3), pages 432-435.
    2. Massimo G. Colombo & Chiara Franzoni & Cristina Rossi–Lamastra, 2015. "Internal Social Capital and the Attraction of Early Contributions in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(1), pages 75-100, January.
    3. Parhankangas, Annaleena & Renko, Maija, 2017. "Linguistic style and crowdfunding success among social and commercial entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 215-236.
    4. Gilles Chemla & Katrin Tinn, 2020. "Learning Through Crowdfunding," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(5), pages 1783-1801, May.
    5. Roland Strausz, 2017. "A Theory of Crowdfunding: A Mechanism Design Approach with Demand Uncertainty and Moral Hazard," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(6), pages 1430-1476, June.
    6. Ellman, Matthew & Hurkens, Sjaak, 2019. "Optimal crowdfunding design," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    7. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    8. Yuho Chung & Yiwei Li & Jianmin Jia, 2021. "Exploring embeddedness, centrality, and social influence on backer behavior: the role of backer networks in crowdfunding," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(5), pages 925-946, September.
    9. Bi, Sheng & Liu, Zhiying & Usman, Khalid, 2017. "The influence of online information on investing decisions of reward-based crowdfunding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 10-18.
    10. Alexandra Moritz & Joern H. Block, 2016. "Crowdfunding: A Literature Review and Research Directions," FGF Studies in Small Business and Entrepreneurship, in: Dennis Brüntje & Oliver Gajda (ed.), Crowdfunding in Europe, edition 1, pages 25-53, Springer.
    11. Crosetto, Paolo & Regner, Tobias, 2018. "It's never too late: Funding dynamics and self pledges in reward-based crowdfunding," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8), pages 1463-1477.
    12. Barbi, Massimiliano & Bigelli, Marco, 2017. "Crowdfunding practices in and outside the US," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 208-223.
    13. Gerrit K.C. Ahlers & Douglas Cumming & Christina Günther & Denis Schweizer, 2015. "Signaling in Equity Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(4), pages 955-980, July.
    14. Jen-Wen Chang, 2020. "The Economics of Crowdfunding," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(2), pages 257-280, May.
    15. Wu, Jie & Ma, Zhenzhong & Liu, Zhiyang, 2019. "The moderated mediating effect of international diversification, technological capability, and market orientation on emerging market firms' new product performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 524-533.
    16. Ajay Agrawal & Christian Catalini & Avi Goldfarb, 2014. "Some Simple Economics of Crowdfunding," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(1), pages 63-97.
    17. Elena Belavina & Simone Marinesi & Gerry Tsoukalas, 2020. "Rethinking Crowdfunding Platform Design: Mechanisms to Deter Misconduct and Improve Efficiency," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(11), pages 4980-4997, November.
    18. Denis Frydrych & Adam J. Bock & Tony Kinder & Benjamin Koeck, 2014. "Exploring entrepreneurial legitimacy in reward-based crowdfunding," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 247-269, July.
    19. Armin Schwienbacher, 2018. "Entrepreneurial risk-taking in crowdfunding campaigns," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 843-859, December.
    20. Endrit Kromidha & Paul Robson, 2016. "Social identity and signalling success factors in online crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(9-10), pages 605-629, October.
    21. Vincenzo Butticè & Massimo G. Colombo & Mike Wright, 2017. "Serial Crowdfunding, Social Capital, and Project Success," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 183-207, March.
    22. Goran Calic & Elaine Mosakowski, 2016. "Kicking Off Social Entrepreneurship: How A Sustainability Orientation Influences Crowdfunding Success," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 738-767, July.
    23. Pitschner, Stefan & Pitschner-Finn, Sebastian, 2014. "Non-profit differentials in crowd-based financing: Evidence from 50,000 campaigns," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 391-394.
    24. Cornelli, Francesca, 1996. "Optimal Selling Procedures with Fixed Costs," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 1-30, October.
    25. Kévin André & Sylvain Bureau & Arthur Gautier & Olivier Rubel, 2017. "Beyond the Opposition Between Altruism and Self-interest: Reciprocal Giving in Reward-Based Crowdfunding," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(2), pages 313-332, December.
    26. Kuppuswamy, Venkat & Bayus, Barry L., 2017. "Does my contribution to your crowdfunding project matter?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 72-89.
    27. Christopher Courtney & Supradeep Dutta & Yong Li, 2017. "Resolving Information Asymmetry: Signaling, Endorsement, and Crowdfunding Success," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 265-290, March.
    28. Srikant Devaraj & Pankaj C Patel, 2016. "Influence of number of backers, goal amount, and project duration on meeting funding goals of crowdfunding projects," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(2), pages 1242-1249.
    29. Soudipta Chakraborty & Robert Swinney, 2021. "Signaling to the Crowd: Private Quality Information and Rewards-Based Crowdfunding," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 23(1), pages 155-169, 1-2.
    30. Strausz, Roland, 2017. "A Theory of Crowdfunding," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 2, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Boudreau, Kevin J. & Jeppesen, Lars Bo & Reichstein, Toke & Rullani, Francesco, 2021. "Crowdfunding as Donations to Entrepreneurial Firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    2. Felipe, Israel José dos Santos & Mendes-Da-Silva, Wesley & Leal, Cristiana Cerqueira & Braun Santos, Danilo, 2022. "Reward crowdfunding campaigns: Time-to-success analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 214-228.
    3. Xiaobei Liang & Xiaojuan Hu & Jiang Jiang, 2020. "Research on the Effects of Information Description on Crowdfunding Success within a Sustainable Economy—The Perspective of Information Communication," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-36, January.
    4. Xu, Yang & Zhou, Qiang & Wang, Xu, 2023. "Joint price and quality optimization strategy in crowdfunding campaign," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    5. Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio & Natalicchio, Angelo & Panniello, Umberto & Roma, Paolo, 2019. "Understanding the crowdfunding phenomenon and its implications for sustainability," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 138-148.
    6. Mahmood, Ammara & Luffarelli, Jonathan & Mukesh, Mudra, 2019. "What's in a logo? The impact of complex visual cues in equity crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 41-62.
    7. Chan, Ho Fai & Moy, Naomi & Schaffner, Markus & Torgler, Benno, 2021. "The effects of money saliency and sustainability orientation on reward based crowdfunding success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 443-455.
    8. Matthew Ellman & Michele Fabi, 2022. "A Theory of Crowdfunding Dynamics," Working Papers 1349, Barcelona School of Economics.
    9. Ellman, Matthew & Hurkens, Sjaak, 2019. "Optimal crowdfunding design," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    10. Shuangfa Huang & David Pickernell & Martina Battisti & Thang Nguyen, 2022. "Signalling entrepreneurs’ credibility and project quality for crowdfunding success: cases from the Kickstarter and Indiegogo environments," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1801-1821, April.
    11. Lin, Tse-Chun & Pursiainen, Vesa, 2022. "Regional social capital and moral hazard in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    12. Calic, Goran & Shevchenko, Anton, 2020. "How signal intensity of behavioral orientations affects crowdfunding performance: The role of entrepreneurial orientation in crowdfunding business ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 204-220.
    13. Eric Tassel, 2023. "Crowdfunding investors, intermediaries and risky entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1033-1050, March.
    14. Hsieh, Hui-Ching & Vu, Thi Huyen Chi, 2021. "The impact of economic policy uncertainty on crowdfunding success," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    15. Diandian Xiang & Leinan Zhang & Qiuyan Tao & Yonggui Wang & Shuang Ma, 2019. "Informational or emotional appeals in crowdfunding message strategy: an empirical investigation of backers’ support decisions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(6), pages 1046-1063, November.
    16. Berns, John P. & Jia, Yankun & Gondo, Maria, 2022. "Crowdfunding success in sustainability-oriented projects: An exploratory examination of the crowdfunding of 3D printers," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    17. Thomas Clauss & Thomas Niemand & Sascha Kraus & Patrick Schnetzer & Alexander Brem, 2019. "Increasing Crowdfunding Success Through Social Media: The Importance Of Reach And Utilisation In Reward-Based Crowdfunding," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(03), pages 1-30, May.
    18. Butticè, Vincenzo & Colombo, Massimo G. & Fumagalli, Elena & Orsenigo, Carlotta, 2019. "Green oriented crowdfunding campaigns: Their characteristics and diffusion in different institutional settings," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 85-97.
    19. Alex Murray & Suresh Kotha & Greg Fisher, 2020. "Community-Based Resource Mobilization: How Entrepreneurs Acquire Resources from Distributed Non-Professionals via Crowdfunding," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 960-989, July.
    20. Aurélien Petit & Peter Wirtz, 2022. "Experts in the crowd and their influence on herding in reward-based crowdfunding of cultural projects," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 419-449, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:9:y:2021:i:21:p:2757-:d:668613. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.