Reward-based crowdfunding as gift exchange. On the interconnection of consumption, commitment and community in crowdfunding

该研究项目旨在从礼物交换理论的角度分析基于奖励的众筹(或德语中的众筹)中市场交换和捐赠的特殊组合。基于奖励的众筹是众筹的原始形式。众筹可以被规定为在互联网平台的调解下，基于许多支持者(人群)的小额财政贡献对各种项目进行融资。基于奖励的众筹可以简单地定义为一种非经济回报的赞助方式。非财务回报往往是项目旨在产生的产品的典范。例如，如果项目是关于资助一本书的出版，承诺一本书作为对足够的资金支持的奖励是很常见的。通常，奖励具有表达与所生产对象的特定联系的特征，例如，一本书的亲笔签名副本。值得注意的是，在基于奖励的众筹中，筹资活动既具有购买消费品的性质，也具有支持有价值的事业的性质。悬赏众筹中社会交换的这种双面性是研究项目特别感兴趣的。从理论上讲，该项目始于这样一个假设，即理解悬赏众筹的关键是消费的三方联系，对更深层次意义的事业的承诺，以及对志同道合的人的社区的参考。因此，在基于奖励的众筹中，市场交换和捐赠的相关性是基于这样一个事实：支持者的行为像消费者，但同时赋予消费对象更深的含义，这促使他们参与到这个对象中来，并为与其他志同道合的人建立个人纽带提供了基础。这种三方动机联系的性质将在礼物交换理论的社会理论视角下进行实证分析。研究方法建立在网络人种学案例研究设计的基础上：基于理论抽样的标准来选择基于奖励的众筹项目的单个案例。分析将侧重于1)项目发起人和支持者之间的交换关系以及所有参与者的社会关系，2)根据礼物交换理论对其进行解释，3)在临时项目的背景下，现实的或想象的社区的影响。数据库包括所有参与者与项目有关的网上交流，并将继续记录，以及对发起人和选定支持者的全面定性访谈。因此，将系统地研究参与者的解释以及基于奖励的众筹的过程动态，以及这两个方面的相互作用。

The research project aims at analyzing the peculiar combination of market exchange and donation in reward-based crowdfunding (or, in the German term, crowdsupporting) in the perspective of gift exchange theory. Reward-based crowdfunding is the original form of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding can be prescribed as the financing of various kinds of projects based on small financial contributions of many supporters (the crowd) mediated by internet platforms. Reward-based crowdfunding can be defined in short as a method for sponsorship with a non-financial return. The non-financial return often is an exemplar of the product which the project aims to generate. E.g., if the project is about financing a book publication, it is common to promise a copy of the book as a reward for adequate monetary support. Often, the reward has features that express a particular bond to the produced object, e.g. an autographed copy of the book. Noticeably, in reward-based crowdfunding the funding activity has both the character of purchasing a consumer good and of supporting a worthy cause. This double- sided character of social exchange in reward-based crowdfunding is of particular interest for the research project.In theoretical terms, the project starts from the assumption that the key for understanding reward-based crowdfunding is in the trilateral connection of consumption, commitment to a cause of deeper meaning, and reference to a community of like-minded persons. Thus, the relatedness of market exchange and donation in reward-based crowdfunding is based on the fact that supporters act like consumers, but at the same time attach a deeper meaning to the object of consumption, which motivates them to get involved with that very object and provides a basis for the feeling of a personal bond to other like-minded persons. The quality of this trilateral connection of motives will be analyzed empirically in the socio-theoretical perspective of gift exchange theory.The research methodology builds on a web-ethnographic case study design: Single cases of reward-based crowdfunding projects are selected by criteria of theoretical sampling. Analysis will focus 1) on the exchange relations between project initiators and supporters and the social relationships of all participants, 2) on its interpretability in the light of gift exchange theory, and 3) on the impact of real or imagined communities in the context of temporary projects. The data base consists both of the project-related web communication of all participants, which will continually be documented, and on comprehensive qualitative interviews with initiators and selected supporters. Thus, the interpretations by the participating actors as well as the processual dynamics of reward-based crowdfunding, and the interaction of both dimensions will be systematically examined.