Investor motivation in crowdfunding ::helping self or helping others

This paper contributes to explain why individuals provide monetary support to entrepreneurs in globally remote areas , via crowdfunding . There is an established literature on prosocial behavior, which explains the individual’s need for helping and other voluntary positive actions towards other s, namely disadvantaged individuals (e.g. Eisenberg 1982). Yet, there is little empirical research on the motivations to contribute to crowdfunding (e.g. Gerber and Hui 2014). We present the results of the statistical analysis of a survey on motivation a nswered by 1,220 crowdfunders on the crowdfunding platform Kiva.org. The results of this study show that: individual motivations to help are centered in the self to an important degree, as opposed to solely the positive pro -­‐ social motivations discussed in the extant literature. O ur study finds that individuals contribute more money when they face a greater need to protect their own self. On the other hand, individuals contribute less money when they feel stronger social pressure or moral obligation to hel p others. These results are robust across seven regression models controlling for demographics and countri