Crowdfunding : Why People Are Motivated to Post and Fund Projects on Crowdfunding Platforms

Computer-mediated crowdfunding is an emerging paradigm used by individuals to solicit funds from other individuals to realize projects. We are interested in how and why these platforms work and the impact they can have on what projects are realized and how they are disseminated in the world. In this paper, we report preliminary findings from a qualitative exploratory study of creators and funders on three popular crowdfunding platforms. In addition to anticipated extrinsic motivators, such as securing funding (creators) and consuming products and experiences (funders), our initial findings suggest that people are also motivated to participate because of social interactions realized through crowdfunding platforms, such as strengthening commitment to an idea through feedback (creators) and feelings of connectedness to a community with similar interests and ideals (funders). We present this research in the context of what we are calling motivational crowdwork, the investigation of motivation as it relates to online task outsourcing, and discuss ideas for ongoing work in this area. Author

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