The impact of common success factors on overfunding in reward-based crowdfunding: An explorative study and avenues for future research

PURPOSE: While there is abundant literature on the key determinants of reward-based crowdfunding success, little research is dedicated to crowdfunding projects that are not only successful but receive significantly more funds than initially targeted through the defined funding goal. This study seeks to shed light on this vastly neglected topic in crowdfunding research. METHODOLOGY: Drawing on a rich dataset of 338 rewardbased crowdfunding projects, this study applied a two-step statistical analysis. First, regression analysesto determine relevant crowdfunding success factors wereconducted in order to corroborate extant literature and to highlight that the data properly reflects the already identified key findings on crowdfunding success. In a second step, the very same factors were investigated for the case of overfunded projects, utilizing logistic regression analyses and a Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition. FINDINGS: Although this study confirmed the findings of previous research considering the factors that increase the success probability of crowdfunding projects, the very same factors turned out to not explain the emergence of project overfunding. For instance, while project founders can provide updates, a higher number of different rewards, or utilize social media pages to increase the likelihood for success, these factors do not contribute to explain the phenomenon of project overfunding. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: By investigating project overfunding, this study addresses the research gap concerning the factors contributing to the emergence of project overfunding. There is little evidence on the characteristics of overfunded crowdfunding projects, and thus this study provides essential theoretical and empirical groundwork for future research to build upon this study's results.