IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/annopr/v348y2025i3d10.1007_s10479-023-05197-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An empirical investigation of repeated donations on crowdfunding platforms during COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Abhishek Behl

    (Management Development Institute)

  • Brinda Sampat

    (NMIMS University)

  • Sahil Raj

    (Punjabi University)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the financial well-being of people and the world’s economy. Crowdfunding is a prominent contributor to this pandemic's adverse effects. Donations on crowdfunding platforms have received attention; however, repeated donations, especially during COVID-19, need to be studied. This study aims to understand the role of reward-based gamification as a tool for understanding repeated donation behaviour on crowdfunding platforms during COVID-19. The study uses the self-determination theory to propose the conceptual framework and uses cross sectional data from 514 donors using survey based instruments. This study aims to understand the role of social relatedness with donors’ intrinsic motivation to make repeated donations. Similarly, it tries to establish the role of social relatedness and engagement with repeated donation behaviour. The study uses reward-based gamification as moderating variables, and the model controls the experience of donating on crowdfunding platforms. The results confirm the relationship between social relatedness impacting a donor’s intrinsic motivation and engagement in crowdfunding platform activities leading to repeated donation behaviour. The study further establishes that reward-based gamification moderates the relationship between intrinsic motivation and repeated donation behaviour. The results reveal that the experience of donating impacts the users' repeated donations. The study presents new insights on the role of gamification in inducing repeated donations on crowdfunding platforms during COVID-19.

Suggested Citation

  • Abhishek Behl & Brinda Sampat & Sahil Raj, 2025. "An empirical investigation of repeated donations on crowdfunding platforms during COVID-19," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 348(3), pages 1849-1877, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:348:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10479-023-05197-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-023-05197-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10479-023-05197-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10479-023-05197-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bagheri, Afsaneh & Chitsazan, Hasti & Ebrahimi, Ashkan, 2019. "Crowdfunding motivations: A focus on donors' perspectives," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 218-232.
    2. Robiady, Nurlita Devian & Windasari, Nila Armelia & Nita, Arfenia, 2021. "Customer engagement in online social crowdfunding: The influence of storytelling technique on donation performance," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 492-500.
    3. Ruth Banomyong & Paitoon Varadejsatitwong & Richard Oloruntoba, 2019. "A systematic review of humanitarian operations, humanitarian logistics and humanitarian supply chain performance literature 2005 to 2016," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 283(1), pages 71-86, December.
    4. Nezih Altay & Raktim Pal, 2014. "Information Diffusion among Agents: Implications for Humanitarian Operations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 23(6), pages 1015-1027, June.
    5. Zhao, Ling & Lu, Yaobin & Wang, Bin & Chau, Patrick Y.K. & Zhang, Long, 2012. "Cultivating the sense of belonging and motivating user participation in virtual communities: A social capital perspective," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 574-588.
    6. Rameshwar Dubey & David J. Bryde & Cyril Foropon & Manisha Tiwari & Yogesh Dwivedi & Sarah Schiffling, 2021. "An investigation of information alignment and collaboration as complements to supply chain agility in humanitarian supply chain," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 59(5), pages 1586-1605, March.
    7. Dwivedi, Abhishek, 2015. "A higher-order model of consumer brand engagement and its impact on loyalty intentions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 100-109.
    8. Lagazio, Corrado & Querci, Francesca, 2018. "Exploring the multi-sided nature of crowdfunding campaign success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 318-324.
    9. Yuxiang Zhao & Qinghua Zhu, 2014. "Evaluation on crowdsourcing research: Current status and future direction," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 417-434, July.
    10. Farhoud, Mohamed & Shah, Sheeza & Stenholm, Pekka & Kibler, Ewald & Renko, Maija & Terjesen, Siri, 2021. "Social enterprise crowdfunding in an acute crisis," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    11. Kock, Ned, 2019. "Factor-based structural equation modeling with WarpPLS," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 57-63.
    12. Jule B. Gassenheimer & Judy A. Siguaw & Gary L. Hunter, 2013. "Exploring motivations and the capacity for business crowdsourcing," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 3(4), pages 205-216, December.
    13. Cynthia Weiyi Cai, 2018. "Disruption of financial intermediation by FinTech: a review on crowdfunding and blockchain," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(4), pages 965-992, December.
    14. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    15. Sarstedt, Marko & Ringle, Christian M. & Smith, Donna & Reams, Russell & Hair, Joseph F., 2014. "Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): A useful tool for family business researchers," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 105-115.
    16. Tandon, Anushree & Dhir, Amandeep & Kaur, Puneet & Kushwah, Shiksha & Salo, Jari, 2020. "Why do people buy organic food? The moderating role of environmental concerns and trust," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    17. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Abhishek Behl & Pankaj Dutta & Zongwei Luo & Pratima Sheorey, 2022. "Enabling artificial intelligence on a donation-based crowdfunding platform: a theoretical approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 761-789, December.
    19. Judd B. Kessler & Katherine L. Milkman, 2018. "Identity in Charitable Giving," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(2), pages 845-859, February.
    20. JoAnne Yong-Kwan Lim & Lowell W. Busenitz, 2020. "Evolving human capital of entrepreneurs in an equity crowdfunding era," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(1), pages 106-129, January.
    21. Koivisto, Jonna & Hamari, Juho, 2019. "The rise of motivational information systems: A review of gamification research," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 191-210.
    22. Juho Hamari & Mimmi Sjöklint & Antti Ukkonen, 2016. "The sharing economy: Why people participate in collaborative consumption," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 67(9), pages 2047-2059, September.
    23. Robson, Karen & Plangger, Kirk & Kietzmann, Jan H. & McCarthy, Ian & Pitt, Leyland, 2015. "Is it all a game? Understanding the principles of gamification," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 411-420.
    24. Joe Cox & Thang Nguyen & Soong Moon Kang, 2018. "The Kindness of Strangers? An Investigation into the Interaction of Funder Motivations in Online Crowdfunding Campaigns," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(2), pages 187-212, May.
    25. Juanjuan Zhang & Peng Liu, 2012. "Rational Herding in Microloan Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(5), pages 892-912, May.
    26. Zhang, Haisu & Chen, Weizhi, 2019. "Crowdfunding technological innovations: Interaction between consumer benefits and rewards," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 84, pages 11-20.
    27. 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.
    28. Othmar M. Lehner & Alex Nicholls, 2014. "Social finance and crowdfunding for social enterprises: a public-private case study providing legitimacy and leverage," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(3), pages 271-286, July.
    29. Krystallia Moysidou & J. Piet Hausberg, 2020. "In crowdfunding we trust: A trust-building model in lending crowdfunding," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(3), pages 511-543, May.
    30. Behl, Abhishek & Dutta, Pankaj, 2020. "Engaging donors on crowdfunding platform in Disaster Relief Operations (DRO) using gamification: A Civic Voluntary Model (CVM) approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    31. Congcong Yang & Hua Jonathan Ye & Yuanyue Feng, 2021. "Using gamification elements for competitive crowdsourcing: exploring the underlying mechanism," Behaviour and Information Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(9), pages 837-854, July.
    32. Rameshwar Dubey & David James Bryde & Cyril Foropon & Gary Graham & Mihalis Giannakis & Deepa Bhatt Mishra, 2020. "Agility in humanitarian supply chain: An organizational information processing perspective and relational view," Post-Print hal-03539292, HAL.
    33. Gordon Burtch & Anindya Ghose & Sunil Wattal, 2013. "An Empirical Examination of the Antecedents and Consequences of Contribution Patterns in Crowd-Funded Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 499-519, September.
    34. Soumya Ray & Sung S. Kim & James G. Morris, 2014. "The Central Role of Engagement in Online Communities," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(3), pages 528-546, September.
    35. Han-Chiang Ho & Candy Lim Chiu & Somkiat Mansumitrchai & Zhengqing Yuan & Nan Zhao & Jiajie Zou, 2021. "The Influence of Signals on Donation Crowdfunding Campaign Success during COVID-19 Crisis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-25, July.
    36. Myung Ja Kim & C. Michael Hall & Heejeong Han, 2021. "Behavioral Influences on Crowdfunding SDG Initiatives: The Importance of Personality and Subjective Well-Being," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-21, March.
    37. Gorry, G. Anthony & Westbrook, Robert A., 2011. "Can you hear me now? Learning from customer stories," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 575-584.
    38. 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.
    39. 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.
    40. Gilal, Faheem Gul & Zhang, Jian & Paul, Justin & Gilal, Naeem Gul, 2019. "The role of self-determination theory in marketing science: An integrative review and agenda for research," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 29-44.
    41. Abhishek Behl & Pankaj Dutta, 2019. "Humanitarian supply chain management: a thematic literature review and future directions of research," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 283(1), pages 1001-1044, December.
    42. Brodie, Roderick J. & Ilic, Ana & Juric, Biljana & Hollebeek, Linda, 2013. "Consumer engagement in a virtual brand community: An exploratory analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 105-114.
    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. Bagheri, Afsaneh & Chitsazan, Hasti & Ebrahimi, Ashkan, 2019. "Crowdfunding motivations: A focus on donors' perspectives," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 218-232.
    2. Kristian Roed Nielsen & Julia Katharina Binder, 2021. "I Am What I Pledge: The Importance of Value Alignment for Mobilizing Backers in Reward-Based Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(3), pages 531-561, May.
    3. repec:ehu:cuader:52001 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Ferrer, José María & Ulrich, Klaus & Blanco-González-Tejero, Cristina & Caño-Marín, Enrique, 2023. "Investors’ confidence in the crowdlending platform and the impact of Covid-19," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    5. 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.
    6. Abhishek Behl & Pankaj Dutta & Zongwei Luo & Pratima Sheorey, 2022. "Enabling artificial intelligence on a donation-based crowdfunding platform: a theoretical approach," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 761-789, December.
    7. Tian, Xin & Song, Yan & Luo, Chunlin & Zhou, Xiaoyang & Lev, Benjamin, 2021. "Herding behavior in supplier innovation crowdfunding: Evidence from Kickstarter," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    8. 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.
    9. Andrea Rey-Martí & Antonia Mohedano-Suanes & Virginia Simón-Moya, 2019. "Crowdfunding and Social Entrepreneurship: Spotlight on Intermediaries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-23, February.
    10. Dinh, Jeannette Mai & Isaak, Andrew Jay & Yahyaoui, Yasmine, 2024. "Investing for good – Uncovering crowd investors' motivations to participate in sustainability-oriented crowdlending," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 207(C).
    11. 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.
    12. Vitaly Skirnevskiy & David Bendig & Malte Brettel, 2017. "The Influence of Internal Social Capital on Serial Creators’ Success in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 209-236, March.
    13. Abhishek Behl & Brinda Sampat & Vijay Pereira & Nirma Sadamali Jayawardena & Benjamin Laker, 2024. "Investigating the role of data-driven innovation and information quality on the adoption of blockchain technology on crowdfunding platforms," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 333(2), pages 1103-1132, February.
    14. Indu Khurana, 2021. "Legitimacy and Reciprocal Altruism in Donation-Based Crowdfunding: Evidence from India," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-16, April.
    15. Tanja Jovanović, 2019. "Crowdfunding: What Do We Know So Far?," International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management (IJITM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 16(01), pages 1-25, February.
    16. Nikolaus Lipusch & Dominik Dellermann & Ulrich Bretschneider & Philipp Ebel & Jan Marco Leimeister, 2020. "Designing for Crowdfunding Co-creation," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 62(6), pages 483-499, December.
    17. Maiolini, Riccardo & Cappa, Francesco & Franco, Stefano & Quaratino, Giovanni Raimondo, 2024. "The impact of sustainable development goals in lending-based prosocial crowdfunding: A topic modeling analysis on the kiva platform," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    18. Cai, Wanxiang & Polzin, Friedemann & Stam, Erik, 2021. "Crowdfunding and social capital: A systematic review using a dynamic perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    19. Ziyi Yin & Guowei Huang & Rui Zhao & Sen Wang & Wen-Long Shang & Chunjia Han & Mu Yang, 2024. "Information disclosure and funding success of green crowdfunding campaigns: a study on GoFundMe," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-23, December.
    20. Testa, Stefania & Nielsen, Kristian Roed & Bogers, Marcel & Cincotti, Silvano, 2019. "The role of crowdfunding in moving towards a sustainable society," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 66-73.
    21. Elrashidy, Zeinab & Haniffa, Roszaini & Sherif, Mohamed & Baroudi, Sarra, 2024. "Determinants of reward crowdfunding success: Evidence from Covid-19 pandemic," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:spr:annopr:v:348:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10479-023-05197-6. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.