Innovation and knowledge sharing in crowdfunding: how social dynamics affect project success

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to contribute to the existing literature on innovation and knowledge sharing in crowdfunding, by exploring the importance of internal social capital, and how the previous failure of a campaign may lead to the success of a second one from the same project creator. Thus, the research question of the study is: how do social dynamics affect project success in a crowdfunding context? The paper reports an illustrative case study which has been promoted on the Kickstarter platform. The authors analysed data, documentation and physical artefacts, especially regarding the network size during the funding period. The results show that the self-learning which project creators gain from previous failure supports them in relaunching their crowdfunding campaign. However, various revisions take place during the second campaign (e.g. social capital size, product redesign and knowledge sharing) to achieve success.

KEYWORDS:

• Knowledge sharing
• crowdfunding
• social capital
• technological innovation

Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank the reviewers of this journal and Professor Michele Simoni for their useful comments on the previous versions of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Daniele Leone is a Research Fellow at the Parthenope University of Naples, Italy. He is expected to receive his doctoral degree in management in March 2019. In 2017 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. In 2015 he received the master’s degree in International Marketing and Management from Parthenope University, Naples, Italy. He is also a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business. His main research areas are innovation management, crowdfunding and healthcare management.

Francesco Schiavone is Associate Professor in management at the Parthenope University of Naples, Italy. He received the Ph.D. degree in Network Economics and Knowledge Management from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy) in 2006. He is also an Affiliated Professor in innovation management at the Paris School of Business, and a Visiting Professor at IESEG Business School (France). In April 2017, Professor Schiavone was habilitated as Full Professor in management by MIUR (the Italian Ministry of Education and Research). Currently, his main research areas are technology management, strategic innovation, communities of practice, and healthcare management and innovation.

ORCID

Francesco Schiavone http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9219-6714

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Parthenope University of Naples within the Research Competitive Program 2016–2018.