Why do donors donate? A study on donation-based crowdfunding in Malaysia

Abstract

This study employed the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework to investigate how social support and quality of the community affect the purpose to donate through donation-based crowdfunding. The online poll generated 359 responses, and the data were statistically analysed using the partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. Path coefficient analysis is also applied to figure out the outcomes of the relationships between the components. The results showed that service and system quality greatly influenced the donors’ trust towards the donation-based crowdfunding. In addition, statistics showed that trust, quality of services, information value, and emotional support played a substantial role in explaining the donation purposes. The results could help donation-based crowdfunding platforms to enhance their success rate of donation campaigns. This study also provided a management application for each relationship and suggested helpful measures in attracting potential donors and retaining them.