Remarkable advocates: An investigation of geographic distance and social capital for crowdfunding

•This study investigates crowdfunding projects using their advocates.•Crowdfunding projects could benefit from leveraging remotely located advocates.•Social capital accumulated from advocates’ social networking site (SNS) is conducive to the success of the project.•Findings support interaction effec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Information & management 2017-04, Vol.54 (3), p.336-348
Main Authors: Kang, Lele, Jiang, Qiqi, Tan, Chuan-Hoo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advocates
Crowdfunding
E-business
Geographical distance
Microblog
Social capital
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Summary:•This study investigates crowdfunding projects using their advocates.•Crowdfunding projects could benefit from leveraging remotely located advocates.•Social capital accumulated from advocates’ social networking site (SNS) is conducive to the success of the project.•Findings support interaction effect between geographic distance and social capital.•Several practical suggestions for crowdfunding entrepreneurs are provided. This study investigates the advocates of crowdfunding projects. Advocates refer to individuals who have invested in a project, and the information of such endorsement is spread through their social networks. By using a combined set of sizable data, this research empirically examines the relationships between two attributes of advocates, namely their geographical distance and social capital, and funding performance. Results reveal that higher funding can be secured with advocates who are (1) of further geographical distance and (2) of higher social capital. Additionally, the relationship between advocates’ social capital and funding performance is further enhanced with a lower geographical propinquity.
ISSN:0378-7206
1872-7530
DOI:10.1016/j.im.2016.09.001