Funder’s characteristics: a systematic literature review on crowdfunding and the application of the TCCM framework to the equity context

Abstract The fintech revolution has empowered consumers to participate in crowdfunding, fostering the collaborative creation of innovative products and services. Despite this progress, the success rate of crowdfunding projects remains low, highlighting the need to understand the factors influencing investors’ decisions. Previous systematic literature reviews (SLRs) have revealed a significant gap in the study of funders’ characteristics, particularly in equity-based crowdfunding (EC). By conducting a specific SLR guided by the Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol, this study aims to investigate whether the identified gap is due to a difference in focus or an objective shortfall. The review identified 42 empirical articles, primarily from high-impact economic and managerial journals, with a notable emphasis on technological and sustainability campaigns. The descriptive analysis of the sample highlights the significant presence of articles focused on the characteristics of EC investors. By applying the theories-context-characteristics-methods (TCCM) framework to the EC subset, our analysis reveals a substantial concentration of psychology-related theories, especially concerning demographic factors such as gender and age, alongside psychological determinants such as trust and self-efficacy. By identifying these key characteristics and their theoretical underpinnings, this research advances the understanding of funders’ behavior in ECs. The findings suggest that future research should adopt a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates experimental methodologies, such as consumer neuroscience, to capture the cognitive processes influencing investment decisions. This approach can provide deeper insights, enabling crowdfunding platforms and project creators to optimize their strategies and improve campaign success rates.