Citizens' support in social mission platforms: Unravelling configurations for participating in civic crowdfunding platforms

Crowdfunding platforms have recently expanded their mission and domain into promoting social movements such as helping the communities or improving local amenities. This study taps into the less studied type of crowdfunding platforms and seeks to advance our understanding of users' participation in supporting local projects mediated by digital platforms. To this aim, we utilized a theoretical multiplicity approach for developing a configurational theoretical framework that integrates two dominant behavioural theories (VBN and TPB) to empirically test citizens' motives for participating in Civic Crowdfunding Platforms (CCPs). By using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) for examining 537 respondents' data, this study explores the emergent configurations that explain the heterogeneity of citizens' behaviour in CCPs. Following a theoretical multiplicity approach and configurational multiplicity perspective, we explore the complex and asymmetrical interactions between substantive factors shaping different configurations that explain citizens' participation or ∼ participation in CCPs. Analysis of empirical data revealed seven different configurations that can adequately explain participation behaviour and five solutions culminate in ∼participation, among which two exemplify free-rider citizens. This empirical study by bridging the body of knowledge on configurational perspectives with behavioural theories contributes to our understanding of citizen participation in CCPs.