Business, College of
Date of this Version
Spring 5-3-2013
Abstract
Crowdfunding is a form of collaborative social media. Even though crowdfunding can function without social media, this phenomenon has developed greatly with the advance of social media. The studies in entrepreneurship and finance established connections between startup projects and social ties. However, the impact of social media on crowdfunding is still lightly studied in academic literature.
The purpose of this thesis is to define the influence of social media on crowdfunding. In particular, this research studies the connections between social media assets such as the social media followers and the social media seals of approval and crowdfunding results such as the delivery of the funding target, the fundraising total, and the number of backers.
In course of the research, data on the hundred crowdfunding projects on the Kickstarter site were collected. Collected data established a number of statistically relevant connections, including the connection between the social media seals of approval and the delivery of fundraising target, the connection between the social media seals of approval and the fundraising total, the connection between the social media seals of approval and the number of backers, and also the connection between the number of social media followers and the social media seals of approval.
The value of this research is that it explores the underlying mechanism of social media influence on crowdfunding results and helps individuals and businesses involved in crowdfunding projects identify factors of success and predict results for their projects.
Adviser: James W. Gentry
Comments
A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, Major: Business, Under the Supervision of Professor James W. Gentry. Lincoln, Nebraska: May, 2013
Copyright (c) 2013 Alexey Moisseyev