Summary

Although research on crowdfunding has been popular in past decades, researchers’ understanding of the crucial success factors of crowdfunding remains limited. Therefore, taking reward-based crowdfunding as the research context, this thesis comprehensively explores the possible success determinants of crowdfunding campaigns through three different theoretical aspects: supporters’ utilitarian value, hedonic value and motivations The findings of this thesis shows that the pleasure obtained during the crowdfunding process is positively associated with crowdfunding success. Besides, entrepreneurs’ empathy and impression management are also significantly associated with reward-based crowdfunding results. In addition, this thesis also explores why the satisfaction of backer’s extrinsic motivation may not always lead to crowdfunding success. The findings of this thesis not only provide meaningful insights into the literature about crowdfunding in general, but also offer practical tips for both entrepreneurs and crowdfunding platform administrators.