Crowdfunding communities as super-organisms

Crowdfunding has emerged rapidly as a form of crowdsourcing in which individuals and organisations leverage the financial resources of online communities. The financial nature of crowdfunding has led many to assume an economic view of behaviour, in which the motivations, biases, and rewards for donors and fund-seekers are best considered at an individual-level. Yet a series of studies reveals that much of the behaviour of crowds is not so easily decomposed into micro-level influences. Instead, it appears that a crowd interacts with external entities, at least in part, in a holistic and self-preservational manner.

About the speaker

Rob Gleasure is a Lecturer at University College Cork who teaches a range of courses around IS design. He completed a PhD in 2013 in Business Information Systems from UCC, which focused on web design, neuroIS and design science. Rob then spent the following year as a full-time postdoctoral researcher exploring the various forms of crowdfunding that have emerged internationally. This seminar discusses the findings from specific studies during this year of focused postdoctoral research, the themes and meta-theory that emerged, and the role of smaller ancillary studies in bringing findings together.