| Author: | Pavlidou, Ioanna |
| Title: | Crowdsourcing innovation : the drivers of the investors’ decision throughout the investment process in equity crowdfunding |
| Advisors: | Tsui, Eric (ISE) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2023 |
| Subject: | Crowd funding Investments -- Decision making Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering |
| Pages: | 205 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The current entrepreneurial environment is widely characterized by short product lifecycles and high competition. In this context, crowdsourcing has been recognized both by academia and industry as a useful tool for business ventures to enhance their resources, financial and non-financial, and strengthen their competitive advantage. While widespread forms of crowdsourcing, such as ideation competitions, focus on non-financial resources, new forms of crowdsourcing have been emerging to fill the needs of ventures in the full spectrum of financial and non-financial resources. One such form is Equity Crowdfunding (ECF), which is the focus of the empirical research of this thesis. In ECF, ventures can fundraise to bridge their funding gap and at the same time leverage the big pool of crowd-investors to expand their knowledge and network resources. Past studies on Equity Crowdfunding do not approach it as a form of crowdsourcing. Studies treat the ECF crowd as an aggregate body of investors, without considering its heterogeneity. Second, most of the studies adopt an outcome-based approach in understanding investors' perceptions by identifying elements of successful ECF campaigns that are attractive to the crowd. Therefore, it is difficult to understand what is the rationale behind a certain investment decision. Third, the second and third stages of the ECF process have been seriously neglected from the investor perspective. ECF consists of three stages: the decision to invest in an innovation, the monitoring and participation and the evaluation of the investment and exit. The majority of the studies are focused on the first stage, only a few engage with the second and none has explored the third stage. This research study fills these gaps by exploring ECF in all the three stages: a) the decision to invest in an innovation, b) the monitoring and participation and, last c) the evaluation of an innovation and the exit. The results indicate which are the main pillars of investors' decision-making in each stage. Moreover, this study reveals how aspects of the heterogeneity of the crowd-investors influence their decision-making process throughout all the stages of ECF. Such aspects are related to the investor type (Professional/Retail investors), the innovation intensity of the proposed investment (High-Tech/Low-Tech) and the impact orientation of the investors (Regular/Impact investors). The findings of this study provide significant contributions both to academia and industry. Regarding the academic research, being the first study to approach certain aspects of ECF, it will set the scene for further research in those areas. These aspects include the relationship between investors' heterogeneity and their decision-making throughout the ECF stages, the topic of exit in ECF and the evaluation of innovation for early-stage ventures in general and particularly for ventures raising funds through ECF. Second, it contributes to the industry in multiple ways. Insights from the results can help early-stage ventures to navigate within their development process and prepare better for fundraising. Moreover, it can contribute to the learning process of young or retail investors to develop more well-informed decisions. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
Copyright Undertaking
As a bona fide Library user, I declare that:
- I will abide by the rules and legal ordinances governing copyright regarding the use of the Database.
- I will use the Database for the purpose of my research or private study only and not for circulation or further reproduction or any other purpose.
- I agree to indemnify and hold the University harmless from and against any loss, damage, cost, liability or expenses arising from copyright infringement or unauthorized usage.
By downloading any item(s) listed above, you acknowledge that you have read and understood the copyright undertaking as stated above, and agree to be bound by all of its terms.
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/12262