Disentangling crowdfunding from fraudfunding

Publikation: Beitrag in FachzeitschriftForschungsartikelBeigetragenBegutachtung

Beitragende

Abstract

Fraud in the reward-based crowdfunding market has been of concern to regulators, but it is arguably of greater importance to the nascent industry itself. Despite its significance for entrepreneurial finance, our knowledge of the occurrence, determinants, and consequences of fraud in this market, as well as the implications for the business ethics literature, remain limited. In this study, we conduct an exhaustive search of all media reports on Kickstarter campaign fraud allegations from 2010 through 2015. We then follow up until 2018 to assess the ultimate outcome of each allegedly fraudulent campaign. First, we construct a sample of 193 fraud cases, and categorize them into detected vs. suspected fraud, based on a set of well-defined criteria. Next, using multiple matched samples of non-fraudulent campaigns, we determine which features are associated with a higher probability of fraudulent behavior. Second, we document the short-term negative consequences of possible breaches of trust in the market, using a sample of more than 270,000 crowdfunding campaigns from 2010 through 2018 on Kickstarter. Our results show that crowdfunding projects launched around the public announcement of a late and significant misconduct detection (resulting in suspension) tend to have a lower probability of success, raise less funds, and attract fewer backers.

Details

OriginalspracheEnglisch
Seiten (von - bis)1103–1128
Seitenumfang26
FachzeitschriftJournal of Business Ethics
Jahrgang182
Ausgabenummer4
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - Feb. 2023
Peer-Review-StatusJa

Externe IDs

Scopus 85117367021
PubMed 36779203
Mendeley 6d749414-ce92-377c-8534-8b536ea8b11b
ORCID /0000-0002-0576-7759/work/142239307
WOS 000709250900002

Schlagworte

Forschungsprofillinien der TU Dresden

Fächergruppen, Lehr- und Forschungsbereiche, Fachgebiete nach Destatis

Schlagwörter

  • Crowdfunding, Entrepreneurial finance, Fraud, Internet, Crowdfunding, Entrepreneurial finance, Fraud, Internet