Drivers of Innovation in Finance: How Important is Materialism for Crowdfunding Investors?

Innovation permeates the financial sector by means of collaborative finance. Crowdfunding, as an activity based on peer-to-peer lending through a platform, is an innovative way to finance start-ups. A better understanding is needed of the motivational factors of backers to participate in crowdfunding campaigns. This study used the empirical data to investigate this issue, paying attention to the participation in four platform types (reward-based, lending-based, equity-based, and donation-based crowdfunding). Results indicate that the extrinsic and intrinsic motivators are constructs that drive actual behaviors. Extrinsic motivators are the prevalent driver of participants in crowdfunding, regardless of which platform type is used.