A typology of crowdfunding sponsors: Birds of a feather flock together?

•We develop a crowdfunding sponsor typology based upon participating motivations.•The existence of four types of crowdfunding sponsors is identified.•They are angelic backers, reward hunters, avid fans, and tasteful hermits.•Differences in personality and projects supported are profiled by sponsor types.•Actual funding amount and timing reflect a sponsor’s motivations.

This study develops a crowdfunding sponsor typology based on sponsors’ motivations for participating in a project. Using a two by two crowdfunding motivation framework, we analyzed six relevant funding motivations—interest, playfulness, philanthropy, reward, relationship, and recognition—and identified four types of crowdfunding sponsors: angelic backer, reward hunter, avid fan, and tasteful hermit. They are profiled in terms of the antecedents and consequences of funding motivations. Angelic backers are similar in some ways to traditional charitable donors while reward hunters are analogous to market investors; thus they differ in their approach to crowdfunding. Avid fans comprise the most passionate sponsor group, and they are similar to members of a brand community. Tasteful hermits support their projects as actively as avid fans, but they have lower extrinsic and others-oriented motivations. The results show that these sponsor types reflect the nature of crowdfunding as a new form of co-creation in the E-commerce context.