W&L’s Frimpong Co-authors Crowdfunding Paper

W&L’s Frimpong Co-authors Crowdfunding Paper

Bright Frimpong, assistant professor of business administration at Washington and Lee University, co-authored a paper that was recently published in the International Journal of Electronic Commerce.

The article, “Impact of Campaign Bundling on the Success of Donation-Based Crowdfunding,” focuses on how crowdfunding campaigns can achieve credibility and a positive reputation through the concept of bundling.

This occurs when campaigns collaborate with similar projects (project bundling) or external entities (ideological bundling) to strengthen the overall sentiment among donors. The authors analyzed data to reveal the diverse effects of collaborative fundraising on the success of donation crowdfunding. Their findings revealed that project bundling has a positive impact, whereas ideological bundling has a negative effect.

Frimpong completed the paper as part of his doctoral work with assistance from members of his dissertation committee. The co-authors were Francis Kofi Andoh-Baidoo, Xuan Wang and Nan Xiao from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Emmanuel Ayaburi from Baylor University.

“In developing regions, the simplicity of starting crowdfunding campaigns also increases the risk of fraud and mismanagement,” said Frimpong. “Trust and credibility are crucial in these regions, as crowdfunding is relatively nascent. What happens then is that establishing credibility becomes a significant challenge for project founders in these regions. Using data from a Kenyan platform, we find that collaborative fundraising not only enhances credibility but also offers a potential solution to the ongoing challenge of slow growth in crowdfunding activities in developing regions.”

Frimpong is in his first year as a member of the faculty at W&L. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in management studies from the University of Cape Coast (Ghana), a Master of Science in marketing from the University of Tampa, an Master of Business Administration in information systems from Georgia Southern University and a doctorate in information systems from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.