Determinants of backers’ funding intention in crowdfunding: Social exchange theory and regulatory focus

• Examine factors influence backers’ funding intention of crowdfunding project.
• Commitment has a remarkable and positive effect on backer’s funding intention.
• Perceived risk has a positive effect on backers’ funding intention in promotion-focus group but negatively related to prevention-focus group.

Crowdfunding has become a novel and popular financing channel worldwide; however, the success rate of crowdfunding projects on most platforms is less than 50%. Thus, project proponents should not only try to attract more visitors but also understand their funding intention, which is particularly important in increasing the success of fundraising projects. Based on social exchange theory, this study examines the key factors influencing backers’ funding intention. More than 204 experienced backers in Taiwan participated in this study, and structural equation modeling was applied for data analysis. Results show that commitment has a remarkable and positive effect on funding intention. Interestingly, perceived risk was found to be positively associated with funding intention, which challenges the conventional view of perceived risk having a negative effect on usage intention. The moderating effects of regulatory focus and funding amount are also discussed. This study not only indicates the key determinates of backers’ funding intention for management but also explains the potential significance of positive perceived risk in funding intention to the literature.