Social and Commercial Crowdfunding Through the Lens of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Financial Well-Being

A unique feature of crowdfunding is that it relies on numerous individuals contributing financially to the project, which sets it apart from traditional financing channels. Unlike banks, where funding decisions are subject to strict prudential criteria and the creditworthiness of the borrowing entity, crowdfunding projects appeal to various worldviews and values held by potential backers. Therefore, the financial decision to support the crowdfunding project becomes a unique problem in personal finance. This study aims to analyse the psychological and financial factors influencing crowdfunding participation, comparing social and commercial projects using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (hereinafter: TPB) and subjective financial well-being as key determinants. Specifically, it investigates how attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control (hereinafter: PBC) shape backers’ intentions across these two crowdfunding contexts, while also examining the role of financial perceptions in decision-making. For this study, we collected 379 responses from participants with prior crowdfunding experience from the United States and Europe, recruited through the Prolific platform. The data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (hereinafter: PLS-SEM) to test the hypothesised relationships. Results confirm the central role of attitudes toward crowdfunding in shaping the intentions to support social and commercial projects. The findings indicate that incorporating a personal finance perspective enhances our understanding of crowdfunding backers’ behaviour. Indeed, subjective financial well-being is significantly related to subjective norms and PBC. This result suggests that respondents who perceive their financial situation more positively are also more likely to believe that supporting crowdfunding is an easy process within their control. Finally, the study confirms that subjective norms significantly influence social project intentions but not commercial ones.