Markus Fitza

The Role of Community in Crowdfunding Success: Evidence on Cultural Attributes in Funding Campaigns to “Save the Local Theater”:

Despite increased interest in examining the factors that influence crowdfunding success, the effects of community context have been relatively unexamined. We address this void by examining the role of cultural context in crowdfunding success. Our unique data set of crowdfunding projects to “save the local theater” are homogenous in their goal, allowing us to test whether crowdfunding campaigns in certain communities lead to better funding outcomes than others. Theoretically, our results suggest the need for further integration of community and cultural constructs into models of venture funding, as such variables may have more relevance than previously believed.

How much do VCS and underwriters matter? A comparative investigation of venture capitalist and underwriter effects on IPO underpricing

Abstract Research on initial public offerings (IPOs) suggests that underwriters as well as venture capitalists (VCs) affect IPO underpricing. However, the magnitude of the effect of VCs on underpricing remains unclear. Are VCs as important as underwriters? We conduct a variance decomposition analysis to compare these two influences. Our results indicate that VCs are of greater importance, and we suggest that VCs’ superior evaluative capacity and signal legitimacy may be responsible for their effects.