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Abstract
Success in crowdfunding has hitherto been narrowly defined in terms of funds raised, and mechanisms leading to success have been inadequately identified. By adopting a trust-based perspective, this thesis develops a theoretical model that examines perceived benevolence trust as a potential antecedent of three aspects of crowdfunding success: amount of funds, number of funders and number of feedback. This model is tested via a quantitative study and mechanisms leading to success are elaborated in a qualitative study. Drawing on a dataset of 469 projects from the largest crowdfunding platform in China, the results indicate that perceived benevolence trust positively influences the levels of success in crowdfunding. Moreover, through interviews conducted across a variety of crowdfunding platforms in China, this thesis investigates the role of crowdfunding platforms in influencing crowdfunding success for entrepreneurs. This thesis contributes to the entrepreneurial finance literature by clarifying the scope of success in crowdfunding for entrepreneurs. Furthermore, it contributes to the trust literature by examining the influence of perceived benevolence trust on crowdfunding success. Finally, it contributes to the crowdfunding literature by exploring managerial factors that influence different success rates across crowdfunding platforms, and provides an understanding of China as an emerging crowdfunding market.