Investment Intention in Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a form of investment that has emerged in the alternative financial market. It addresses the unmet demand of small investors wanting to contribute to a project. In developing countries, this concept is recent, thus leading to less activity compared to advanced markets. This master thesis seeks to explain the factors that drive or prevent investors from developed countries to fund projects in developing countries. Factors like monetary utility, social utility, cultural distance, geographical distance, personal interest, perceived risk on crowdfunding, perceived risk on investment in developing countries, and self-efficacy have been identified from the literature review. This study has used a descriptive quantitative approach and collected data from 79 individuals, mainly Norwegian nationals. Of the eight hypotheses, monetary utility, personal interest, perceived risk on investment in developing countries have not been testable due to inadequate data. Cultural distance and geographical distance have been merged into one variable as psychic distance due to being too highly correlated. The findings from the multiple regression analysis have resulted us in accepting the hypotheses of societal utility, self-efficacy, and psychic distance to be factors that impact the investment decisions in crowdfunding. Perceived risk on crowdfunding on the other hand has been found insignificant. The results of this study have contributed to the existing theory of planned behavior. For practice, the results are highly relevant for fund seekers who are trying to raise fund through crowdfunding