U.S. Election 2020: Intentions to Participate in Political Crowdfunding during COVID-19 Pandemic

Hasnan Baber, Riri Kusumarani and Hongwei (Chris) Yang
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Hasnan Baber: Abu Dhabi School of Management, Abu Dhabi 6844, United Arab Emirates
Riri Kusumarani: National Research and Innovation Agency, Jakarta 10340, Indonesia
Hongwei (Chris) Yang: Department of Communication, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28607, USA

Administrative Sciences, 2022, vol. 12, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: Participation in the political process is the fundamental right and responsibility of a citizen. Online political participation has gained popularity as it is convenient and effective. Political crowdfunding helps political candidates and parties pledge funds, usually small, from a large population and seek support through marketing campaigns during elections. In November 2020, when there were presidential elections in the US and the world was facing a global pandemic from COVID-19, political crowdfunding was a helpful method to communicate the political agenda and seek funding. The study aims to examine the intentions of US citizens to participate in political crowdfunding amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The study will integrate two models—the theory of planned behavior and civic voluntarism model—to check intentions and, in addition, the influence of COVID-19. The data were collected from 529 respondents from the US before the elections. The data were analyzed through a partial least squared structural equation modeling technique with SmartPLS 3.2. The results suggested that political efficacy and online community engagement have a positive influence on the intention to participate in political crowdfunding. Further, all three factors of TPB have a significant positive influence on intention. The perceived threat variable of COVID-19 does impact the attitude towards political crowdfunding. The study will be helpful for crowdfunding platforms and political contenders to examine the factors that can help them to seek maximum funds from the public and, at the same time, examine the effectiveness of their political communications.

Keywords: crowdfunding; Elections 2020; COVID-19; intentions; US; CVM; TPB (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L M M0 M1 M10 M11 M12 M14 M15 M16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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