The benefits and challenges of using crowdfunding to facilitate community-led projects in the context of digital civics

Digital technology is increasingly being used to bring citizens and communities together to address local concerns. While a variety of approaches have been developed that allow citizens and communities to improve their local communities, these approaches are often financially unsustainable. In this paper, we describe our exploration of crowdfunding as an alternative approach to funding and sustaining community-led projects in the context of digital civics. Through our analysis of four community-led crowdfunding projects, we explore the merits of crowdfunding in this context, demonstrating that it can a) provide an alternative funding mechanism suitable for financing some community-led projects, b) create a sense of empowerment and ownership, and c) increase community awareness. By reflecting on our experiences, we identify four key challenges to utilising crowdfunding to support community-led projects in the context digital civics. We also provide advice specific to crowdfunding in the context of digital civics, before discussing the role of crowdfunding within digital civics. By addressing these challenges, we will be able to better support community groups crowdfund for the public good

“In this together”: on the antecedents and implications of crowdfunding community identification and trust

Despite references to crowdfunding as a community-embedded phenomenon, few studies explore the antecedents and implications of crowdfunding communities. This study suggests community identification and trust as two core aspects of crowdfunding communities, while aiming to identify their antecedents and implications for crowdfunding campaign information-sharing intentions and behavior. Information-sharing is a necessary condition for successful entrepreneurial fundraising when using crowdfunding. For this purpose, we use survey data collected from users of Finland’s leading reward crowdfunding website, Mesenaatti.me, while analyzing it using structural equation modelling. Our findings show that community identification and trust are both positively associated with crowdfunding contribution attitudes and with information-sharing intentions. However, only community identification is associated with information-sharing behaviors. Enjoyment, homophily, and community outcome expectations are antecedents of both community identification and trust. Tie strength and normative pressures are antecedents of community identification. Finally, information-sharing intentions mediate the effect of community trust on information-sharing behavior. We discuss explanations for these findings and their implications for crowdfunding research and practice.publishedVersionPaid open acces

Advances in Crowdfunding: Research and Practice

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Advances in Crowdfunding

This open access book presents a comprehensive and up-to-date collection of knowledge on the state of crowdfunding research and practice. It considers crowdfunding models and their different manifestations across a variety of geographies and sectors, and explores the perspectives of fundraisers, backers, platforms, and regulators. Gathering insights from a wide range of influential researchers in the field, the book balances concepts, theory, and case studies. Going beyond previous research on crowdfunding, the contributors also investigate issues of community, sustainability, education, and ethics. A vital resource for anyone researching crowdfunding, this book offers readers a deep understanding of the characteristics, business models, user-relations, and behavioural patterns of crowdfunding

Value Creation in Smart Destinations. The Case of Manchester

Value co-creation is crucial to the conceptualisation of smart destinations. The integration of smartness in tourist destinations for the co-creation of value can drive innovation and enhance competitiveness. While smart tourism considers the prominent role of data and the advanced ICTs for value creation and innovation, S-D logic and strategic management respectively recognise knowledge and skills as determinant to the integration of resources for value creation and source of competitiveness. The evolving smart tourism destination definition is consistent with the service ecosystem concept. Considering the dynamic and complex nature of value co-creation in a smart ecosystem, an interdisciplinary approach involving the smart tourism, strategic management and S-D logic domains appears to be appropriate. The purpose of this research study is to explore and expand the theoretical and practical understanding of the value creation phenomenon in the smart Oxford Road Corridor of Manchester, from the rare and uncommon supply-side perspective. In the light of the static and codified approach to knowledge and skills, this study adopts a social constructivist stance towards the investigation of inter-organisational knowledge, data sharing and smart ICTs use. In harmony with the interpretive-qualitative paradigm, the holistic single-case study guided the primary data (interviews) and online secondary data (documentary material) collection and analysis. The iterative coding process based on the thematic analysis of all data sustained the conceptualisation of the value creation process through the following major interrelated themes: value creation enablers, value creation components, value creation constraints, addressing (the) constraints, innovation, contextual factors. The critical discussion about the themes helped with the definition of a holistic view of the phenomenon through an integrative framework resulting from the combination of a procedural and structural framework. In addition to the provision of the frameworks to advance understanding of the value creation process in a smart tourism ecosystem, this study has theoretical significance in enriching and expanding the body of knowledge in each and all the theoretical domains. Understanding this value creation process in detail and from a holistic perspective has several practical implications for local stakeholders, city managers and, particularly, data managers, on the ground of the emphasis ascribed to data skills