A Crowd-Funder Value (CFV) Framework for Crowd-Investment

Abstract

Crowd-funding is used by business and social entrepreneurs to fund projects that impact society in many ways. Although crowd-funders fund and support entrepreneurial projects, stakeholders are less aware of crowd-funder motivations and behaviours towards products/services, which impact on the success of these projects. The purpose of this research, therefore, is two-fold: a) development of crowd-funder value framework for understanding crowd-funder motivations; and b) provision of robust theoretical basis to the construct of ‘crowd-funding'. Different social constructs, such as social identity, and symbolic, crowd and relational social capital related to crowd-funding are discussed based on symbolic convergence theory of communication and social identity theory. This framework will act as a roadmap to understand how crowd-funder motivations impact and create value for individuals, organisations and society, and inform how social, environmental and economic value and impact can be maximised through crowd-funding initiatives.