In crowdfunding we trust : a trust-building model in lending crowdfunding

Trust critically affects the perceived probability of receiving expected returns on investment. Crowdfunding differs in many ways from traditional forms of investing. We have to ask what builds trust in this particular context. Based on literature regarding the formation of initial trust, we developed a model to explain which factors lead to crowdfunders’ trust in a crowdfunding project. We tested it on data collected from actual investors in a real project on a crowdlending platform. Our results show that trust in the crowdfunding platform and the information quality are more important factors of project trust than trust in the creator

The motivational foundations of lenders : social lending through Crowdfunding Platforms

Thanks to the development of the Web 2.0, the new-generation interactive web focuses on involving its users as value-creating agents. As such, the way companies do business online and interact with their customers has also been changing. Organizations can rely on this technology to innovate and create new distributed business models that are also profitable and sustainable (Villarroel & Gorbatai 2011a, 2011b). As such, a recent organizational concept, crowdsourcing, enables firms to make an open call to source ideas, work, etc. from the crowd. In particular, as the concept found new areas of application, it is now possible to source the crowd for funding through “crowdfunding” platforms. This thesis focuses on social lending initiatives - in which individual members of the crowd support social causes and other individuals, helping them to get funding for their projects through crowdfunding platforms. The aim is to study the motivational foundations of lenders. The results show that social lenders’ motivations are intrinsic in nature. On one hand, lenders do contribute more often in social lending initiatives if: they have humanitarian and altruistic values; need to protect their ego from the negative features of the self; and if they enjoy and have fun during the process of investing. On the other hand, when it comes to extrinsic motivations, lenders do participate less often when they have social pressure; or when they feel they have to protect others from the negative features of their lives. In order to contribute more times and support more projects, lenders must be intrinsically motivated, since extrinsic motivations make them feel oblidged to help, which decreases their frequency of participation

Global forest management data for 2015 at a 100 m resolution

Spatially explicit information on forest management at a global scale is critical for understanding the status of forests, for planning sustainable forest management and restoration, and conservation activities. Here, we produce the first reference data set and a prototype of a globally consistent forest management map with high spatial detail on the most prevalent forest management classes such as intact forests, managed forests with natural regeneration, planted forests, plantation forest (rotation up to 15 years), oil palm plantations, and agroforestry. We developed the reference dataset of 226 K unique locations through a series of expert and crowdsourcing campaigns using Geo-Wiki (https://www.geo-wiki.org/). We then combined the reference samples with time series from PROBA-V satellite imagery to create a global wall-to-wall map of forest management at a 100 m resolution for the year 2015, with forest management class accuracies ranging from 58% to 80%. The reference data set and the map present the status of forest ecosystems and can be used for investigating the value of forests for species, ecosystems and their services

Get the Crowd Going – An Empirical Analysis toward a Crowdsourcing Engagement Model

Crowdsourcing continues to attract attention from researchers, organizations, and policy makers alike. In particular, crowdsourcing projects that engage intrinsically motivated volunteers and are aimed at endeavors such as policy making, research, and social activism, need to understand how to create sustained engagement in their initiatives. A fair amount of research has been done on identifying users’ motivation in crowdsourcing. However, crowdsourcing motivation literature still lacks sufficient theory-driven approaches. In this paper, we derive from theory of work motivation, the technology acceptance model, and the gamification concept to propose a model that can explain participants’ motivation in crowdsourcing. To measure our model constructs, we conducted a survey on the users of a European crowdsourcing project, researching truck traffic tracking. The results of the exploratory factor analysis confirm that our constructs can be measured properly using our questionnaire. At the end of this paper, we explain our findings and the contribution of our study