We would like to invite you to participate in Management Engineering(ME) Seminar.

1. When: April 19th (Thursday), 16:00~17:20
2. Where: Building 9, 7th, #9705
3. Speaker: Prof. Keongtae Kim (City University of Hong Kong)
4. Topic: Disclosure of Project Risk in Crowdfunding
5. Research field: IT Management
* Lecture will be delivered in Korean.

Abstract:
To alleviate the information asymmetry between creators and crowdfunders, crowdfunding platforms often implement platform-wide rules, such as requiring creators to disclose potential risks of their project. This study combines multiple empirical methods (i.e., online experiments, text-based machine learning, and a differences-in-difference design) to examine whether and how risk disclosure of crowdfunding projects influences crowdfunders’ project perceptions and funding decisions, with a particular focus on the contrast between technology projects and non-technology projects. We find that crowdfunders respond to the risk disclosure of projects, but differently between technology projects and non-technology projects. Crowdfunders in technology projects are sensitive to the content and presentation of disclosed risk information and react more negatively to projects with a higher risk, while those in non-technology projects are far less so. The reason for this difference is partly because crowdfunders are more likely to fund technology projects in the hope of the rewards creators promise, and this motive is weaker when they fund non-technology projects. These findings have implications for disclosure policies in crowd-based platforms and provide guidance for entrepreneurs seeking funds from crowds.