The Effect of Community Managers on Online Idea Crowdsourcing Activities

In this study, we investigate whether and to what extent community managers in online collaborative communities can stimulate community activities through their engagement. Using a novel data set of 22 large online idea crowdsourcing campaigns, we find that moderate but steady manager activities are adequate to enhance community participation. Moreover, we show that appreciation, motivation, and intellectual stimulation by community managers are positively associated with community participation but that the effectiveness of these communication strategies depends on the form of participation managers wish to encourage. Finally, the data reveal that community manager activities requiring more effort, such as media file uploads vs. simple written comments, have a stronger effect on community participation

Funding Dynamics in Crowdinvesting

We use hand-collected data from four German crowdinvesting portals to analyze what determines individual investment decisions in crowdinvesting. In contrast with the crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter, where the typical pattern of project support is U-shaped, we find crowdinvesting dynamics to be L-shaped. The evidence shows that backers base their investment decisions on information provided by the crowdinvesting portals as well as the behavior and comments of other investors. Furthermore, crowd investors engage in herding behaviour. These findings offer support for adequate information disclosure requirements that are consistent with ongoing regulatory reforms such as the JOBS Act in the United States, but that behavioral components may also affect investment decisions of the crowd

The Emergence of Crowdinvesting in Europe

This paper first presents the development of the crowdinvesting market in Europe since its start in 2007. Then, using hand-collected data on the complete set of crowdinvesting campaigns run in Germany, the paper shows that successful campaigns tend to be launched by new startups and when the minimum ticket size is small so that more crowd investors can participate. Moreover, the use of the partiarisches Darlehen (a specific form of equity-linked notes not subject to prospectus regulation) adopted at the end of 2012 in Germany (as a response to alleviating regulatory constraints) has led to larger amounts being raised but also campaigns becoming more likely to achieve their targets. These two results combined indicate that contractual arrangements that enable more participation from the crowd tend to work best. Finally, campaigns launched on portals already having some experience are more likely to raise larger amounts. These findings should be of use to entrepreneurs who need to choose among a larger range of different crowdinvesting portals

Hourly Wages in Crowdworking: A Meta-Analysis

In the past decade, crowdworking on online labor market platforms has become an important source of income for a growing number of people worldwide. This development has led to increasing political and scholarly interest in the wages people can earn on such platforms. This study extends the literature, which is often based on a single platform, region, or category of crowdworking, through a meta-analysis of prevalent hourly wages. After a systematic literature search, the paper considers 22 primary empirical studies, including 105 wages and 76,765 data points from 22 platforms, eight different countries, and 10 years. It is found that, on average, microtasks results in an hourly wage of less than $6. This wage is significantly lower than the mean wage of online freelancers, which is roughly three times higher when not factoring in unpaid work. Hourly wages accounting for unpaid work, such as searching for tasks and communicating with requesters, tend to be significantly lower than wages not considering unpaid work. Legislators and researchers evaluating wages in crowdworking need to be aware of this bias when assessing hourly wages, given that the majority of literature does not account for the effect of unpaid work time on crowdworking wages. To foster the comparability of different research results, the article suggests that scholars consider a wage correction factor to account for unpaid work. Finally, researchers should be aware that remuneration and work processes on crowdworking platforms can systematically affect the data collection method and inclusion of unpaid work

Europäischer Nichtwohnhochbau weiterhin auf Wachstumskurs

Nach den aktuellen Prognosen der Experten für die in der Euroconstruct-Gruppe zusammengeschlossenen 19 europäischen Länder wird im Nichtwohnbau bis 2009 ein durchschnittliches Wachstum von rund 2% pro Jahr erwartet. Dabei wird, neben Belgien und Irland, in allen vier mittelosteuropäischen Ländern mit einem deutlich überdurchschnittlichen Wachstum gerechnet. Eine rückläufige Entwicklung wird lediglich für Portugal prognostiziert.Bauwirtschaft, Prognose, Wohnungsbau, Tiefbau, Geschäftsklima, Wohnungsbaupolitik, Europa

Should Securities Regulation Promote Crowdinvesting?

In this paper, we show that too strong investor protection may harm small firms and entrepreneurial initiatives, which contrasts with the traditional ‘law & finance’ view that stronger investor protection is better. This situation is particularly relevant in crowdinvesting, which refers to a recent financial innovation originating on the Internet and targets small, innovative firms. In many jurisdictions, securities regulation offers exemptions to prospectus and registration requirements. We provide an into-depth discussion of recent regulatory reforms in different countries and discuss how they may impact crowdinvesting. Building on a theoretical framework, we show that optimal regulation depends on the availability of alternative early-stage financing such as venture capital and angel finance. Finally, we offer exploratory portal-level evidence from Germany on the impact of securities regulation on small business finance

Funding dynamics in crowdinvesting

We use hand-collected data from four German crowdinvesting portals to analyze what determines individual investment decisions in crowdinvesting. In contrast with the crowdfunding campaigns on Kickstarter where the typical pattern of project support is U-shaped, we find crowdinvesting dynamics to be L-shaped under a first-come, first-serve mechanism and only U-shaped under a sealed-bid second-price auction. The evidence further shows that investors base their decisions on information provided by the entrepreneur in form of updates during the campaign and by the investment behavior and comments of other crowd investors. We also find evidence for herding behavior. As legislators around the world increasingly regulate crowdinvesting activities, knowing how crowd investors behave under no formal information disclosure provides important insights for issuers, portals, and lawmakers

Auswirkungen der Globalisierung auf die Bauwirtschaft

Das Schwerpunktthema der 62. Euroconstruct-Konferenz, die am 1. Dezember 2006 in München stattfand, lautete "Auswirkungen der Globalisierung auf die Bauwirtschaft". Fünf namhafte Experten stellten, neben den gravierenden Veränderungen der letzten Jahre, ihre Prognosen zur Entwicklung der Bauwirtschaft vor und benannten die zukünftigen Wachstumsfelder. Ihre Referate sind hier kurz zusammengefasst.Bauwirtschaft, Globalisierung, Welt