Imagine being interested in purchasing a pair of sunglasses. You can buy sunglasses in a classic market purchase transaction, shopping online or in-store; but you can also obtain sunglasses through participating in the crowdfunding of a new venture, getting the product once available in marketable quality. Indeed, on platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo, for example, hundreds of thousands of start-ups have successfully pitched and sold their new products to millions of people.

A Canadian and Austrian research team thus raises the novel question: Do consumers buy different projects when purchasing in a classic market purchase transaction, shopping online or in-store; as opposed to purchasing a product through participating in the crowdfunding of a new venture? Across six studies Bonnie Simpson (Associate Professor at Western University), Martin Schreier (Professor and Chair of WU’s Institute for Marketing-Management), Sally Bitterl (Teaching and Research Associate at WU’s Insitute for Marketing-Management) and Katherine White (Professor of Marketing and Behavioural Science at the University of British Columbia) demonstrate a robust effect in the top journal Journal of Marketing Research: Crowdfunding (compared to purchasing) increases consumer demand for social-good products (e.g. sunglasses made of recycled abandoned nets in the ocean that trap and kill fish and marine mammals).

In addition, the just recently published paper: “Making the World a Better Place: How Crowdfunding Increases Consumer Demand for Social-Good Products” explains this fundamentally difference in the decision-making process: The crowdfunding context seems to shift our mindset from I to WE, from an independent self towards a self that is interconnected with others. For social good products this means that ventures may want to consider a crowdfunding platform to launch their products and emphasize collective-efficacy beliefs in their pitches (e.g. how we together can make the world a better place).

Excitingly, as consumers not only can we help start-ups realize their ideas through crowdfunding, but also, collectively make the world a better place.

Cite as: Simpson, B., Schreier, M., Bitterl, S., & White, K. (2020). Making the World a Better Place: How Crowdfunding Increases Consumer Demand for Social-Good Products. Journal of Marketing Research.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0022243720970445