THE DYNAMICS OF CROWDFUNDING: AN ENTREPRENEURIAL LEARNING PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to extend the boundary of the crowdfunding literature by examining the dynamics of crowdfunding with regard to two aspects: across- and within-campaign dynamics. The first essay investigates the role of prior experience in entrepreneurial success. Drawing on the theory of organizational learning, I theorize entrepreneurial learning effects from several fine-grained experience dimensions: direct/indirect, successful/failed, experience relatedness and richness. The second essay examines how the fundraising patterns influence entrepreneurs’ strategic actions during the course of the fundraising and how these actions in turn affect final funding performance. Building on the performance feedback model from organizational learning theory, I propose hypotheses related to the effects of performance relative to the aspiration level on entrepreneurs’ explorative and exploitative actions for managing the crowdfunding campaign, the effects of strategic action taking on end-of-period project performance as well as the role of time in these relationships.