Is all that Glitters Gold? Exploring The Effects of Perceived Risk on Backing Behavior in Reward-based Crowdfunding

摘要

Crowdfunding is gaining much attention in theory and practice. Various platforms have emerged, offering different stakeholders the possibility to raise money from an undefined group of online users. Despite the growing interest, there appears to be little understanding of what drives backers to revoke pledged funds. In this research-in-progress paper, we address this issue by drawing on perceived risk theory. Perceived risk is widely recognized as the main source of negative influence on consumers' purchasing behavior in e-commerce. Therefore, we aim at developing a theory ingrained research model that helps to analyze and understand the impact of perceived risks on backers'funding on revocation behavior in reward-based crowdfunding. Doing so, our research contributes to the body of risk theory by applying it into a new context. It helps crowdfunding intermediaries and individuals to understand potentially occurring risks, and provides them with actionable advice on how to handle them.