HCC Seminar Series: ­­­An Experimental Evaluation of Gender Differences in Responses to Major-Donor Funding Schemes for Crowdfunded Social Ventures

Abstract

Social ventures that are fundraising through crowdfunding often involve major donors to influence the contributions of smaller donors. We theorize that male and female donors will respond differently to alternative major-donor contribution schemes that are commonly used by social ventures. In a field experiment, donors were randomly assigned to receive one of three solicitation messages about a pair of projects that were seeking funds through crowdfunding. All donors received identical messages, with the exception that information on major-donor involvement was varied across conditions. The message to the control group made no mention of a major donor. The seed group was informed that a major donor had unconditionally funded the first 50% of the projects' costs and that the projects were collecting the remaining 50% from other donors; we hypothesize that this scheme is likely to appeal to female donors, who tend to be more uncertainty and risk-averse. Finally, the challenge-match group was informed that a major donor would provide the remaining 50% of the projects' costs after the projects secure the first 50% from other donors; we hypothesize that this scheme is likely to appeal to male donors, who tend to respond more positively to challenges. The major donor in the field experiment-Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft-is a government agency that promotes and funds innovation in Austria. We find that females in the seed group are ~50% and ~35% more likely to exhibit an interest in contributing, as compared to females in the control or challenge-match conditions, respectively. Among males, we do not observe significant differences in interest in contributing across the three groups. A subsequent survey indicates that females are more responsive to the seed scheme because it yields a perception that the organization conducting the project is of high quality, is likely to reach its funding goal, and is likely to achieve its implementation goals.

Biography

Dr. Bapna is Associate Professor and Lawrence Fellow at the Carlson School of Management, University of MN. Dr. Bapna's research interests lie in the areas of digital platforms, entrepreneurship, and gender gaps. Her work is inherently multidisciplinary in nature and engages with industry partners. Dr. Bapna’s research has been published in Management Science and MIS Quarterly, and is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation. She is a recipient of the INFORMS Information Systems Society’s Gordon B. Davis Young Scholar Award, and the Association for Information Systems’ Early Career Award.