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Abstract(s)
This work, inspired by the first experience of its writer as a lender on the web platform
Kiva.org, presents an analysis involving 4221 investors in order to show that preferences of
individuals may play an important, somewhat counterintuitive role in the social-lending
crowdfunding environment. First, in fact, it is found that lenders who are able to satisfy
their initial preferences regarding a project to support tend to invest fewer times compared
to individuals who are not able to find a project available that fully satisfies them. Second,
between lenders who faced this “mismatch” between their preferences and the projects
available, those who experienced the stress of moving to a different country – relocation
anxiety – tend to invest fewer times. Third, however, the geographical location of projects
does not appear to be a critical variable at play when formulating preferences regarding a
project, so that investors who do not give importance to geography when selecting projects
tend to support more of them. It is therefore crucial for managers of social-lending
platforms to get to know their users’ behavior in this regard, to analyze it and to consider it
carefully in order to provide them with the best answers to their needs.