An Exploratory Study: Peer-to-Peer Online Lending

摘要

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of gender, economic variables, and listing characteristics on the likelihood of funding success in a peer-to-peer lending market. This research uses logistic regression to evaluate a dataset of peer-to-peer business loans listed under Title II of the JOBS Act. Results show that gender is a significant factor related to successful funding. Businesses with women owners and/or women managers are significantly less likely to be fully funded. This research also suggests that lenders exhibit behavior consistent with a substitution effect. The likelihood of successful funding depends on conditions in alternative investments. This is the first study to examine a dataset of small businesses seeking online debt financing from the "crowd"； prior research is based on consumer peer-to-peer loans. Descriptive statistics are provided by geographic region and business sector. This paper contributes to the literature on crowdfunding and introduces a new stream of research on business peer-to-peer lending. The results of this research have implications for small business managers and entrepreneurs.