• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.1-19
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• 2017

Purpose This study examines the roles of individual- and country-level social capital in entrepreneurial activities from the context of crowdfunding. Design/methodology/approach Two primary sources were used for data collection. From Kickstarter, the largest U.S.-based crowdfunding platform, this study obtained 15,716 crowdfunding projects and individual-level social capital. For country-level social capital, the social capital index from the 2016 Legatum Prosperity Index was utilized. By matching individual- and country-level social capital for each crowdfunding project, this research estimates the role of social capital in entrepreneurial activities at the individual and country level using the Poisson regression and the negative binomial regression. Findings Individual-level social capital measured by the number of Facebook friends, the number of other crowdfunding projects that a crowdfunding project founder invested in, and the word count of the description of a crowdfunding project are positively associated with the number of crowdfunding projects created by founders. The country-level social capital measured by aggregated social capital index is also positively associated with the number of crowdfunding projects created by founders. Both individual- and country-level social capital have a positive impact on entrepreneurial activities in terms of the creation of new crowdfunding projects.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.13-29
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• 2020

With the development of the Internet environment, cross-border crowdfunding has emerged as a novel method to attract foreign investors online. Focusing on 324 South Korea-based crowdfunding projects from Kickstarter, which is a representative cross-border crowdfunding platform, this study explores the trends of South Korea-based funding projects and examines the effects of key determinants on crowdfunding outcomes. Regarding the characteristics of crowdfunding projects, analysis results show that the appropriate goal amount and funding period, sufficient updates of project status, and active communication is critical for success. Additionally, from the perspective of project creators, this research finds that creators need to pay greater attention to writing their detailed biographies. Finally, examining the characteristics of project backers, this study shows that attracting project backers from various countries would be desirable rather than focusing on Korean sponsors from the start.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.1-16
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• 2021

Recently, crowdfunding has been receiving increased attention due to the variety of novel ways it provides for connecting funders and fundraisers. Concurrently, however, it has been criticized on the grounds of information asymmetry. We are interested in whether information collected from an asymmetric information source significantly influences crowdfunding success. Through this study, we would like to establish a social field of convergence pursued by Serve Science and to conduct practical research and practice together. First, we investigated the importance of interaction between funders and fundraisers within the crowdfunding platform. In the "comments" section, communication between funders and fundraisers reduces the degree of asymmetric information. In the aspect of presumable funders, they should make the best of the "comments" section to collect more solid information without losing return on their investment. Second, we analyze sentiment-based optimistic and pessimistic information from the "story" (asymmetric source) and "comments" sections. In conclusion, it shows that the optimistic and pessimistic information of the "comments" section has a great impact on crowdfunding success and that the influence of the "story" section is limited to pessimistic information under certain conditions. The crowdfunding platform is an innovative and productive way for startups and entrepreneurs to start a business, and since information an important role in the success of crowdfunding, It can be seen that it is essential to focus on establishing the best communication methods.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.560-569
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• 2015

Crowd funding is the method of raising money for a project, companies from a large group of people via the Internet, in return for future products or equity. Kickstarter is the largest and most successful crowdfunding site where creative projects raise reward based funding. Drawing on dataset of 80,267 projects with combined funding over $1.3b from 8.1m people, this paper suggest that backer select project based on their preference on the project, instead profitability of the project. It suggests that well-established platform and big size of network increases the chance of success of the project due to a ripple effect and blockbuster effects. Clear communication about the project's idea and goal is highly correlated with success. Regular communication on the project site, such as by constant progress updates, helps the success of the project. Equity-based crowdfunding is emerging as an innovative means of raising capital for businesses, so it has been receiving a lot of attention and expectation from the government and the market. The findings of this paper and others will help to get some understanding and insight into equity-based crowdfunding. However, Kickstarter differs from equity-based crowdfunding in the goals of the backers. Kickstarter's backers are not investors, they are contributors. To understand equity-based crowdfunding, the subject will need further study.