Skin in the game: Self-funding and reward crowdfunding success

This article focuses on entrepreneurs’ self-funding behavior in the reward crowdfunding context and its relation to crowdfunding success. Theoretically anchoring our discussion in signaling theory, we argue that self-funding sends similar information to that conveyed by quick-fix bootstrapping efforts. Accordingly, we hypothesize that self-funding behavior is positively associated with crowdfunding success as it can help alleviate uncertainties around a fundraiser’s intent and quality as perceived by prospective backers. To show this, we use a sample of 1,583 campaigns collected from Zhongchou, the largest Chinese reward-based crowdfunding platform, to test our hypotheses. Our results demonstrate that entrepreneurs' direct self-funding is positively associated with crowdfunding success. Moreover, this effect is partially mediated by the quality of campaigns’ content elements.     

Overhead aversion and facial expressions in crowdfunding

Overhead aversion—donors’ negative attitudes toward their donated money being used for overhead costs—has been explored in many contexts. In this study, we first confirm findings from prior research that high overhead costs imposed on project initiators have a negative effect on supporters' funding decisions and that higher overhead costs make project funding less successful in crowdfunding. Thereafter, we investigate how the negative effect of overhead costs on funding performance is moderated by the project initiator's facial expressions in the image on the project webpage. A smiling face mitigates overhead aversion, whereas a sad face amplifies it. We collected a large sample of data from Kiva, a loan-based crowdfunding platform, and used a deep learning algorithm to categorize the facial expressions of project initiators. Subsequently, a propensity score weighting approach was applied to minimize confounding effects. This empirical study indicates that the project initiator's smiling face, rather than a sad face, can alleviate supporters' overhead aversion.     

The Heart Recovery Marketing Campaign

SUMMARY

Crisis communication plans and marketing recovery campaigns are a key component of destination recovery after crises or disasters. Despite increasing researcher and practitioner interest in crisis and disaster management, further analysis of these components of recovery is warranted. This article contributes to this growing body of research by analysing the advertising components of a recovery marketing campaign developed and implemented immediately after bushfires in the Australian Capital Territory in 2003. The findings are drawn from relevant documents, marketing collateral and in-depth interviews with government agencies, professional associations and businesses. Despite a lack of relevant plans, the marketing campaign was an effective exercise in crisis communication under temporal and resource constraints and demonstrated application of research, rapid response, financial support, consistency of messages, honest and open communication and evaluation. Planning, training and further analytical case study research is recommended.     

Blockchain tokens and the potential democratization of entrepreneurship and innovation

Over the past few years, Bitcoin has emerged as the first decentralized, global currency. The rise of Bitcoin has brought attention not only to digital currencies but also to the underlying technology empowering digital currencies: blockchain technology. A blockchain is a distributed ledger that records and secures transactions in a peer-to-peer network. Besides empowering digital currencies, blockchain technology has given innovators the capability of creating digital tokens to represent scarce assets, potentially reshaping the landscape of entrepreneurship and innovation. Blockchain tokens may democratize (1) entrepreneurship by giving entrepreneurs new ways to raise funds and engage stakeholders, and (2) innovation by giving innovators a new way to develop, deploy, and diffuse decentralized applications. Blockchain technology and tokens have sparked a new wave of innovation, which may start to revolutionize entrepreneurship and innovation.     

The ecology of internal workplace giving at Indiana University: a case study of faculty and staff campus campaign communications and fundraising

• This collective case study examines university-specific philanthropic cultures, campus fundraising campaigns, and their impact on faculty and staff giving to the university. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data, the study documents fundraising strategies through interviews and materials analysis and assesses their results through quantitative data on characteristics of donors and their philanthropic gifts. Examination of fundraising methods reveals differences between demand and supply-side communication strategies with faculty and staff members as internal stakeholders and donors. Concentrating on the campuses of Indiana University, a large, highly diverse public institution in the American Midwest, this study includes analysis of the outcomes of the fundraising process across institutions of different sizes, demographics, and philanthropic cultures. The findings underscore the importance of exploring the characteristics that influence employee donation behaviors as context for the creation and enactment of fundraising campaigns and highlight the need for future research in the area of workplace giving.

Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The 2008 Food Summit: A political response to the food price crisis in Gauteng province,South Africa

In responding to food price riots and other unrest in 2008, Gauteng province in South Africa hosted a two-day Food Summit attended by 4000 delegates. Summit invitees expected to be consulted on issues of concern about food prices, but the government instead responded with the message that the poor must be self-sufficient and grow their own food (via the Ilima/Letsema campaign launch), an impractical suggestion in a crisis. The timing of the 2008 Summit in relation to major changes within the African National Congress and the looming 2009 national election in South Africa leads to a conclusion that the Summit was a political event designed to build political capital ahead of the elections, rather than a genuine stakeholder consultation event linked to food security. Findings of this study indicated that food security planning in Gauteng is exclusionary through its rural bias and excludes, for example, urban dwellers and foreign migrants. Also, at that time, Gauteng would have been underprepared for a genuine food emergency as there was no working provincial strategy to deal with urban food security or a severe food crisis.     

创业项目选择互联网众筹影响因素研究

互联网创业项目众筹是近几年刚起步的一种商业融资模式,需要众筹的创业项目首先需考虑众筹投资者决策影响因素。建立了互联网创业项目因素、投资者个人因素和众筹平台影响因素决策模型,通过理论假设、调查问卷数据采集和二分类Logistic回归方法分析众筹投资者决策行为主要影响因素。结果显示,在显著水平0.05下,性别、婚姻状况、对创业发起者的支持、对众筹项目的感兴趣程度、众筹项目前景、创业项目风险、创业项目发起人能力、众筹项目回报与投资者期望一致、众筹平台知名度、众筹平台对投资者利益的保护程度是主要影响因素。结论可为互联网创业项目众筹设计、可行性分析和获得投资提供依据,也可为互联网创业众筹研究提供理论指导。     

浅谈我国股权众筹融资的发展及监管

如果说2013年是“互联网金融发展元年”,那么2014年就是“互联网金融创新发展年”。2014年互联网金融创新,不仅在投资理财、产品服务创新上层出不穷,更重要的是在各种模式的创新上更加多元化。除了P2P、第三方支付、电商金融和大数据金融外,众筹模式获得长足发展。本文比较了国内外众筹的发展历程和发展态势,着重剖析了我国股权众筹融资存在的法律风险、监管措施和未来的发展趋势。     

对IPTV广告成功战略的研究——以三星电子“又一家庭”互动广告活动事例为中心

本研究对IPTV的特征及其作为广告媒体的可行性利用属性进行了研究,陈述了其与既存数字媒体的差异。以XIPTV广告特征为研究对象,陈述了IPTV广告分为展示广告和互动广告,以及各自的特征。以三星电子的“又一家庭”互动广告活动作为案例,以两次活动的内容为中心,立足于活动的成功宣传角度和广告效果角度两个方面总结了活动成果,并指出其局限性。最后,通过提出IPTV的任务和未来的成功战略,为IPTV广告责任人提供现实的启发点。     

满铁侵略活动与"九·一八"事变

满铁不但对中国人民进行各种经济侵略活动,而且为日本关东军收集大量经济、政治、军事情报,制造鼓动侵略理论,参与建立伪满傀儡政权,是日本关东军制造"九·一八"事变的罪恶帮凶.