Rewards-based crowdfunding as an institutional carrier: The cross-border backing of environmental projects

Abstract

Entrepreneurs pursuing environmental projects face a paradox: they are most needed in weak institutional contexts, but in these contexts, they are also most under-resourced. We investigate whether global rewards-based crowdfunding platforms can mitigate this paradox by channeling cross-border (financial) resources to environmental projects, especially in weak institutional contexts. Drawing on institutional theory, we conceptualize such platforms as cross-border institutional carriers that transmit backer support across borders guided by pro-environmental community logics. Using Kickstarter data spanning campaigns in 153 countries and backers from 226 countries and territories, we find a positive relationship between projects' environmental orientation and their likelihood of attracting cross-border funding. Moreover, this cross-border support originates from countries with stronger environmental institutions and is especially directed toward projects in weaker institutional contexts. Our findings differ from prevailing expectations from international entrepreneurial finance research focused on venture capitalists and angels, which emphasize cross-border disadvantages for risky, environmental projects in weak-institutional contexts, while we report cross-border fundraising advantages for these projects. Our study contributes to research on the nexus of institutional theory, international entrepreneurship, and crowdfunding research by showing how international crowdfunding platforms can enable the bottom-up diffusion of pro-environmental values and resources across country borders.