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

How gender influences the probability of success in crowdfunding

Female entrepreneurs have higher barriers of entry when compared to their male cohorts. Female discrimination is present when trying to gain access to finance in the traditional investment industry. In recent years, crowdfunding has emerged as a viable method of early venture financing. This paper investigates the correlation between female entrepreneurs and the likelihood of accessing finance on crowdfunding compared to males. The evidence shows that campaigns led by female entrepreneurs benefit from higher rates of success compared to their male counterparts. Furthermore, when investigating whether females, compared to males, experience a larger negative effect as goals increase in relation to success, results found that there is no difference between females and males. And finally, when analyzing whether female success rate in male dominated categories is lower compared to males, we see that females benefit from higher rates of success, compared to males. Female participation on the crowdfunding platform as is less than males, however, they succeed at higher rates than men, even in typically male dominated industries, illustrating that crowdfunding can help take steps towards breaking the cycle of female discrimination when investing.As mulheres empresárias têm mais barreiras de entrada quando comparadas aos seus coortes masculinos. A discriminação feminina está presente quando tentam obter acesso a financiamento, num setor de investimentos tradicional. Nos últimos anos, o crowdfunding surgiu como um método viável de financiamento de risco inicial. Este trabalho investiga a correlação entre mulheres empresárias e a probablilidade de aceder a um financiamento especialmente devido ao crowdfunding. Em relação às taxas de sucesso feminino, os dados demonstram que campanhas lideradas por mulheres têm maiores taxas de sucesso em relação aos seus homólogos masculinos. Além disso, ao investigar se as mulheres sentem um efeito negativo maior à medida que os objetivos para alcançar o sucesso aumentam, em comparação com os homens, os resutados indicam que não há diferença entre homens e mulheres. E, finalmente, ao analisar se a taxa de sucesso femino em categorias dominadas pelos homens é menor, verificamos que as mulheres beneficiam de maiores taxas de sucesso comparadas com os homens. Embora a taxa de participação feminina como líderes seja menor que a dos homens na plataforma de campanha crowdfunding, elas conseguem taxas mais elevadas de sucesso do que os homens, ilustrando que o crowdfunding pode ajudar a tomar medidas para quebrar o ciclo de discriminação feminina no que toca ao investimento

From Comparison to Collaboration: Experiments with a New Scholarly and Political Form

Society and the workplace are two factors that are important for the individual's health status. It is important that the individuals has the right skills to take care of their health. For organizations, it is important to strive for the welfare of their employees. This has proven to have a positive impact on work performance, reduced absenteeism and reduced costs for rehabilitation. In 2007, the local authorities in Umeå implemented a wellness offering for all employees working in the municipality administration. They later saw a need to assist employees who needed help getting started with new exercise habits. This study aims to examine how the participants in the "Get Started Programme", succeeded in creating lasting exercise habits , 3-4 years after completing the program. Research questions are: How have the participants increased their knowledge practically and theoretically after the programme has finished? How have the participants succeeded in creating the content of the programme in their daily lives? How do the participants assess their health compared to before they participated in the programme? Are there any beneficial factors highlighted by the participants as during the program? The study was conducted on the basis of semi-structured interviews with eight voluntary participants who previously participated in the Get Started Programme. The results show that six of the eight participants succeeded to get started with the goals for behavioral change, and still maintain a sufficient physical activity level today. Participants who do not consider themselves to have succeeded in reaching the goals they set up in the beginning of the program, point out that they have the tools needed to go on and continue the behavioral change they strive for

Emerging Opportunities: Monitoring and Evaluation in a Tech-Enabled World

Various trends are impacting on the field of monitoring and evaluation in the area of international development. Resources have become ever more scarce while expectations for what development assistance should achieve are growing. The search for more efficient systems to measure impact is on. Country governments are also working to improve their own capacities for evaluation, and demand is rising from national and community-based organizations for meaningful participation in the evaluation process as well as for greater voice and more accountability from both aid and development agencies and government.These factors, in addition to greater competition for limited resources in the area of international development, are pushing donors, program participants and evaluators themselves to seek more rigorous – and at the same time flexible – systems to monitor and evaluate development and humanitarian interventions.However, many current approaches to M&E are unable to address the changing structure of development assistance and the increasingly complex environment in which it operates. Operational challenges (for example, limited time, insufficient resources and poor data quality) as well as methodological challenges that impact on the quality and timeliness of evaluation exercises have yet to be fully overcome

An empirical analysis of crowdfunding in Sub-Saharan Africa

The challenge to obtain early-stage funding for small ventures is especially pronounced in Africa, where traditional funding sources are available only to a small extent. This lack, combined with the diffusion of mobile phones and internet access, enabled the unprecedented rise of mobile payments on a personal level in Africa in recent years. On a commercial level, ICT-enabled crowdfunding is given the potential to mitigate the early-stage funding gap for African entrepreneurs. Using exploratory research, the dissertation provides initial empirical evidence on crowdfunding in Sub-Saharan Africa. In particular, it is shown that African entrepreneurs across the continent can raise substantial amounts of money by tapping into the global funding community. Moreover, empirical evidence is provided, that the basic economic constructs, institutions and infrastructure appear to play a decisive role for African crowdfunding and that their effect size depends on the respective institutional setting.:1. Introduction 2. Prevailing Forms of Funding for African Entrepreneurs 2.1 Informal Funding 2.2 Government Funding 2.3 Business Angels 2.4 Venture Capital 2.5 Factoring and Leasing 2.6 Banking Loans 2.7 Mobile Money 2.8 Microfinance 2.9 Summary 3. Crowdfunding 3.1 Definition of Crowdfunding 3.2 Taxonomy of Crowdfunding 3.3 Donation-based Crowdfunding 3.3.1 Characteristics 3.3.2 Platforms 3.3.3 Empirical Research 3.4 Reward-based Crowdfunding 3.4.1 Characteristics 3.4.2 Platforms 3.4.3 Empirical Research 3.5 Debt-based Crowdfunding 3.5.1 Characteristics 3.5.2 Platforms 3.5.3 Empirical Research 3.6 Equity-based Crowdfunding 3.6.1 Characteristics 3.6.2 Platforms 3.6.3 Empirical Research 3.7 The Emergence of Crowdfunding 3.8 The Worldwide Crowdfunding Market 3.9 The African Crowdfunding Market 4. Evidence on the Use of Reward-based Crowdfunding in Africa 4.1 Research Objective 4.2 Research Design and Methodology 4.3 Data Sample 4.3.1 Data Set Construction 4.3.2 Variables 4.4 Results 4.4.1 Project and Platform Results 4.4.2 Category Results 4.4.3 Country Results 4.5 Summary and Critical Reflection 5. National Competitiveness 5.1 What is National Competitiveness? 5.2 The Global Competitiveness Report 5.3 The Global Competitiveness Index 6. Evidence on Enabling Economic Factors for the Usage of Reward-based Crowdfunding in Africa 6.1 Research Objective 6.2 Research Design and Methodology 6.3 Data Sample 6.3.1 Data Set Construction 6.3.2 Variables 6.4 Results 6.4.1 Total Sample 6.4.2 Low-Income Countries 6.4.3 Middle-Income Countries 6.4.4 Below-Median Crowdfunding Activity Countries 6.4.5 Above-Median Crowdfunding Activity Countries 6.5 The Role of Productivity and Basic Requirements 6.6 Discussion and Connection of the Results 6.7 Summary and Critical Reflection 7. Summary and Implications 7.1 Executive Summary 7.2 Theoretical Implications 7.3 Implications for Policymakers 7.4 Implications for African Entrepreneurs 7.5 Implications for Other Stakeholders 7.6 Limitations and Avenues for Future Research 7.7 Concluding Remarks References Appendice

Answering a calling: medical professionals' digital careers in crowdsourcing

One of the most striking trends in individuals’ careers over the last decade has been the dramatic increase in the proportion of the labor force working beyond their employers’ physical boundaries because of the digital revolution in the gig economy. This trend has drawn much attention in the changing nature of work, workplace and careers. However, little empirical research has explored how and why individuals behave in the interface between online platforms and traditional organizations. In my dissertation, I explore these questions by studying medical professionals’ digital careers in the Chinese healthcare crowdsourcing industry, also known as “mobile doctors.” First, by analyzing approximately 240-hour observations and 43 interviews with Chinese physicians, I identify a key issue in this new career – time conflict between crowdsourcing and traditional work. The findings show that physicians respond to time conflict in a variety of ways, including time theft, an essential yet under-researched construct in the crowdsourcing literature which reflects the tension between traditional work and crowdsourcing. Second, by analyzing archival data of 4,034 doctors’ 3.1 million time records on a Chinese healthcare platform across half a year, I show that time theft for crowdsourcing is related to the traditional work context, including hospitals’ boundary control and offline crowd worker social groups. Finally, I further explore, via interview data, why such seemingly costly and deviant time theft is adopted by mobile doctors. The findings reveal that medical professionals assume the extra burden of working for crowdsourcing with the hope of answering unfulfilled occupational callings in traditional work and adding meaning to their work. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the shifting nature of work and careers in the digital economy by documenting and explaining mobile doctors’ participation in this new world of work

Reducing STEM gender bias with VIDS (video interventions for diversity in STEM)

Gender biases contribute to the underrepresentation of women in STEM. In response, the scientific community has called for methods to reduce bias, but few validated interventions exist. Thus, an interdisciplinary group of researchers and filmmakers partnered to create VIDS (Video Interventions for Diversity in STEM), which are short videos that expose participants to empirical findings from published gender bias research in 1 of 3 conditions. One condition illustrated findings using narratives (compelling stories), and the second condition presented the same results using expert interviews (straightforward facts). A hybrid condition included both narrative and expert interview videos. Results of two experiments revealed that relative to controls, VIDS successfully reduced gender bias and increased awareness of gender bias, positive attitudes toward women in STEM, anger, empathy, and intentions to engage in behaviors that promote gender parity in STEM. The narratives were particularly impactful for emotions, while the expert interviews most strongly impacted awareness and attitudes. The hybrid condition reflected the strengths of both the narratives and expert interviews (though effects were sometimes slightly weaker than the other conditions). VIDS produced substantial immediate effects among both men and women in the general population and STEM faculty, and effects largely persisted at follow-up. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved