Research On The Relationship Between Crowdfunding Sponsors’ Social Capital And Investors’ Investment Behavior

With the proposal of "mass entrepreneurship and innovation",a large number of innovative entrepreneurial activities have emerged.The establishment and development of enterprises cannot be separated from the support of funds,so how to obtain financing for enterprises is an important issue at present.Crowdfunding is a new financing tool under the development of the Internet,and it is also an important means for SMEs to obtain financing.Compared with the traditional financing methods,crowdfunding relies on the Internet,and it develops rapidly with its low investment threshold and wide circulation range,which is helpful to solve the financing difficulties of SMEs.Through crowdfunding platform,investors can choose the projects they are interested in to invest,while enterprises can obtain financial support from successful projects raised by the crowd.China’s crowdfunding industry started late,with mixed crowdfunding platforms,imperfect supervision system and many problems in the development of the industry.The success of crowdfunding projects is the result of investment by many investors,and the investment behavior of investors is influenced by many factors.Therefore,how to attract crowdfunding investors to invest and then improve the success rate of crowdfunding projects is an important practical problem.This paper takes crowdfunding investors as the research object,and reveals the influencing mechanism of crowdfunding investors’ investment behavior.Based on the theory of social capital,the theoretical model of investment behavior of crowdfunding investors is constructed.This paper mainly discusses the following two questions:(1)The three dimensions of social capital(structural dimension,relational dimension and cognitive dimension)influence mechanism of crowdfunding investors’ investment behavior.(2)The effect boundary of project sponsor’s experience capital on crowdfunding investors’ investment behavior.The Logistic regression analysis of 4633 items of JD.COM crowdfunding platform data shows that the structural dimension(the breadth of social network connection),the relational dimension(the intensity of interactive relationship)and the cognitive dimension(the intensity of shared language)of sponsors’ social capital have a positive impact on the behavior of crowdfunding investors.Meanwhile,the sponsors’ initiating experience has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between sponsors’ social capital and investors’ investment behavior.The conclusion enriches the relevant research on investment behavior of crowdfunding investors.Firstly,the social capital theory is introduced into the research of crowdfunding investors’ behavior,which reveals the influencing mechanism of crowdfunding investors’ investment behavior and expands the application scope of the social capital theory.Secondly,it emphasizes the important role of sponsors’ experience capital in investment behavior,and analyzes how social capital affects investment behavior under different experience levels.Finally,this paper provides practical guidance and suggestions for the sponsors of crowdfunding projects.Besides adjusting the crowdfunding interface information to better display the project,the sponsors should also increase the publicity and promotion of the project and broaden the social network to increase the structural social capital.At the same time,update the project progress in time and actively discuss and exchange with investors,and increase the relational social capital by strengthening interaction;In addition,detailed responses to investors’ comments can deepen investors’ understanding of the project,enhance shared language and increase cognitive social capital.Initiators who lack experience should focus on the display of project information in crowdfunding,and sponsors who are experienced should focus on the development of social capital through the relationship network established with investors to promote the success of crowdfunding projects.