AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SPONSOR SATISFACTION IN REWARD-BASED CROWDFUNDING

Crowdfunding is a new financing channel for small and medium-sized enterprises and individual entrepreneurs to raise funds for innovation projects online. In reward-based crowdfunding projects sponsors invest money and receive rewards as a return. This paper investigates sponsor satisfaction in reward-based crowdfunding projects. The findings indicate that sponsors' satisfaction is determined by their utilitarian value and hedonic value from the projects. Utilitarian value is significantly related to reward delivery timeliness and the extent to which the reward meets the specifications as planned, while hedonic value may be increased through sponsors' citizenship behaviors in the process of project implementation. This paper contributes empirically to crowdfunding research and has practical implications for crowdfunding platforms and entrepreneurs.