Research Information System
Research in International Business and Finance, vol.89, 2026 (SSCI, Scopus)
Crowdfunding has emerged as a vital alternative financing tool for entrepreneurs. This paper analyzes the performance of reward-based crowdfunding using Kickstarter data from 2010 to 2022, focusing on its resilience in the face of rising platform competition and large-scale exogenous shocks. We find that competition initially lowered campaign success rates, but later improved outcomes as platform maturity increased trust and visibility. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an exogenous shock, we identify structural breaks in campaign dynamics. While the pandemic accelerated digital finance adoption, it also introduced significant uncertainty. Government-imposed mobility restrictions positively affected small and medium-sized ventures, likely due to heightened prosocial behavior, while public panic negatively impacted campaign outcomes. Our findings highlight the complex interplay between platform-level dynamics and large-scale exogenous shocks, offering insights for entrepreneurs, platform providers, and policymakers working to strengthen the role of alternative finance during crises.