Why people collaborate in civic crowdfunding platforms: configurational analysis of citizens profile

Digital platforms are revolutionising how value is created and exchanged. The convergence of anytime-anywhere has fuelled the emergence of online networks that recently expanded their domain into promoting collective actions for addressing common issues and creating public goods. This paper taps on the less studied type of social mission platform and seeks to advance our understanding of users’ participation in Civic Crowdfunding Platforms (CCPs). To this aim, we utilised theoretical multiplicity approach for developing a configurational theoretical framework that integrates two dominant behavioural theories (VBN and TPB) to empirically test citizen’s motive for participating in a CCP. By adopting person-centred approach and using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) for examining 537 respondents’ data, this study explores the constellations of causal factors underlying citizens’ participation in CCPs. The results demonstrate that our integrative proposed model of values, beliefs, norms and demographic variables can explain the variance of citizens’ motive for engaging in a CCP. This empirical study contributes to the CCP literature by highlighting how the conjunction of socio-psychological and demographic variables forms citizens’ participation in a civic campaign. We propose a configurational emergent model that enhances our understudying of different citizens’ profile who collaborate in a CCP. Through bridging the body of knowledge on configurational perspectives and behavioural theories, this study uncovers five latent profiles (Social Justice Advocates, Communal Citizens, Benovelant Supporters, Self-cantered Contributor and Outcome-oriented Volunteers) that characterise bakers of civic crowdfunding projects. By examining several equifinal pathways, this study also contributes to practice by proposing pragmatic knowledge on the combination of factors that are essential in stimulating collaboration in CCPs.