Abstract

Crowdfunding is a new financing channel for small- and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups to raise funds for innovation projects online. Despite its rapid development, few empirical research has been performed to identify individuals’ motivations to continuously invest in crowdfunding. The high practical significance and lack of research indicate the importance of the present study. This study aims to apply Meyer & Allen’s three-component model of commitment to construct a research model, incorporating context-specific antecedents. The results of our survey of 186 actual funders of the crowdfunding platforms in China indicated that affective and calculative commitment are the main drivers of funders’ continuous investments in crowdfunding. Calculative commitment was proved to have a positive influence on affective commitment. Further, perceived self-worth and trust performed well as antecedents of both affective and calculative commitment, though trust played a negative role in the latter, which differed from the three other paths. And also, perceived critical mass was significantly associated with calculative commitment. The results of this research provided theoretical implications for future research and practical implications for the success of crowdfunding platforms.

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