The Readiness–Action Gap in Donation-Based Crowdfunding: Evidence from Indonesia and Japan

Previous studies on donation-based crowdfunding have predominantly focused on donation intention rather than actual donation behavior, leaving limited understanding of how psychological readiness translates into realized donations. Drawing on Activity Theory and socio-technical system perspectives, this study investigates how platform trust, crowd familiarity, upstream reciprocity, and downstream reciprocity influence crowdfunding readiness and actual donation behavior across different institutional contexts. The study hypothesizes that crowdfunding readiness positively influences actual donation behavior and that reciprocity, trust, and crowd familiarity significantly shape readiness and platform trust. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 284 crowdfunding users, consisting of 160 respondents from Japan and 124 respondents from Indonesia. Structural equation modeling using Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) was employed to test the proposed relationships. The findings reveal a readiness–action gap in Indonesia, where crowdfunding readiness does not significantly translate into actual donation behavior, whereas readiness significantly predicts realized donations in Japan. Platform trust and downstream reciprocity positively influence crowdfunding readiness in both countries, while upstream reciprocity demonstrates contextual variation. These findings suggest that the transformation of readiness into actual donation behavior depends not only on individual motivation but also on institutional maturity, governance transparency, and systemic alignment. The study contributes to crowdfunding literature by extending intention-based models toward actual behavioral outcomes and offers practical implications for strengthening digital philanthropy ecosystems and advancing SDGs 1, 10, and 17.