Crowdfunding is now established as a valid alternative to conventional methods of financing for startups. Unfortunately, to date, research has not investigated how backers can be encouraged to support entrepreneurs beyond funding. The aim of this study is to design and evaluate certain design elements for reward-based crowdfunding platforms that can engage backers in co-creational activities for product development. The study uses a design science research (DSR) approach and the theoretical concept of psychological ownership to inform a new design and then experimentally test that design. The results suggest that the derived artifacts positively influence co-creational activities in crowdfunding and that feelings of psychological ownership play an important mediating role. The contribution of this research is threefold. First, this paper extends crowdfunding’s application potential from merely a method of financing to a method of value creation with customers for product development. Second, the study advances DSR by applying a new DSR approach that shows whether a design performs as hypothesized by theory. Third, this research allows the exploration of backers’ individual behavior as opposed to their collective behavior.

中文翻译：

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众筹共创设计

众筹现已成为初创企业传统融资方式的有效替代方案。不幸的是，迄今为止，研究尚未调查如何鼓励支持者在资金之外支持企业家。本研究的目的是设计和评估基于奖励的众筹平台的某些设计元素，这些平台可以让支持者参与产品开发的共同创造活动。该研究使用设计科学研究 (DSR) 方法和心理所有权的理论概念来为新设计提供信息，然后对该设计进行实验测试。结果表明，衍生产物对众筹中的共同创造活动产生积极影响，心理主人翁感起着重要的中介作用。这项研究的贡献有三方面。第一的，本文将众筹的应用潜力从单纯的融资方式扩展为与客户一起进行产品开发的价值创造方式。其次，该研究通过应用一种新的 DSR 方法来推进 DSR，该方法显示设计是否按照理论假设执行。第三，这项研究允许探索支持者的个人行为而不是他们的集体行为。