Abstract:
Crowdfunding is becoming a popular source of financing entrepreneurial ventures in the developed world and retains the potential to support the developing world. The principle of crowdfunding is soliciting financial resources from a crowd through a platform on the internet. Studying the intention to use crowdfunding is an area of research that will focus on this new phenomenon in investigating the possibility of popularizing it in the country. Based on the contention, the primary objective of this study is to investigate the factors that affect the intention to use crowdfunding and the gender differences in the fundraising intention of technology undergraduates at the University of Ruhuna. The research model was developed to represent technological factors and environmental factors that affect fundraising intention. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was selected as the theoretical model to study fundraising intention for two reasons: as crowdfunding is an information technology-based solution for fundraising it can be investigated with technology acceptance models and the UTAUT model provides nearly 70% prediction of intention. The measurements for the variables were adapted from the literature with modifications for the current context. All the variables were measured by a five-point Likert scale. The survey was carried out among technology undergraduates and 75 usable questionnaires were used for the analysis. Multiple regression analysis and independent sample t-test were used for analyzing the data. The results show that performance expectancy and effort expectancy has a positive significant effect on fundraising intentions. Social influence has a negative relationship with fundraising intention and facilitation condition has a positive non-significant relationship with fundraising intention. Additionally, the study found that there are no significant gender differences in fundraising intentions among undergraduates. Future studies can focus on investigating the UTAUT model in a crowdfunding setting with its original moderators and other variables including individual factors.
