Crowdfunding in New Product Development

Marketing researchers have suggested that reward-based crowdfunding (RBCF) plays roles in marketing research and promotion in new product development. However, empirical evidence of these roles is lacking. In this study, we aimed to test hypotheses about these roles by conducting a survey of organizations that implemented their projects on a large Japanese RBCF platform. Our findings reveal two mediating effects on the relationship between the number of backers and new product performance (NPP): (1) learning from the backers and new product quality improvement and (2) enhancing the promotional effect. The results also show that consumer product unfamiliarity moderates the relationship between the promotional effect and NPP. However, we could not confirm a statistically significant mediating effect of competitor entry on the relationship between the number of backers and NPP.