Does gender have any effect on political crowdfunding? An empirical analysis from India

Abstract

Crowdfunding has seen a steep growth in the past decade. The basic principle of crowdfunding is fundraising from a large crowd. The political activities of a party or a candidate often require funds that are difficult to secure. In the 2008 campaign, Barak Obama raised around $500 million through crowdfunding. This study aims to examine the role of gender (through political interest, political efficacy, political awareness, and political party affiliation) in shaping the intention of people to participate in political crowdfunding (PCF) while measuring their level of political engagement. The study collected data from 374 respondents from India, the most populous democracy in the world. The results suggest that political interest and political awareness have a positive relationship with PCF participation. The study further reveals that the relationship is stronger in the case of women than in the case of men on these two parameters. The study also suggests that education can help promote women’s online political participation through crowdfunding. The study will be helpful for political parties/candidates and crowdfunding platforms to understand the factors that can boost fundraising campaigns through crowdfunding.

Keywords:

• Crowdfunding
• political engagement
• gender
• political interest
• political awareness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data will be available on request.

Notes on contributor

Dr Hasnan Baber is an Assistant Professor in Abu Dhabi School of Management, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He earned his Ph.D. in Management Studies from Woosong University, South Korea. He has two masters’ degrees - Masters of Business Administration from the Central University of Kashmir and Masters of Art (Public Administration) from Indra Gandhi National Open University, India. He has published more than 50 research articles through reputed publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, Emerald, Sage, and many others. He is serving as guest editor, editorial board member and advisory board member for various reputed journals. His areas of research are crowdfunding, FinTech, Entrepreneurship, e-learning, digital literacy and Islamic Finance.

Code availability

Analysis has been done using SPSS version 22.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Women Representation In the Temple of Democracy https://www.drishtiias.com/daily-updates/daily-news-editorials/women-representation-in-the-temple-of-democracy

2 https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=IN&most_recent_year_desc=false

3 Vargas, J (2008). Obama Raised Half a Billion Online http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/11/20/obama_raised_half_a_billion_on.html