Motivations Behind Donors' Contributions to Crowdfunded Journalism |
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| Authors: | Lian Jian Jieun Shin |
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| Institution: | 1. Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern Californialjian@usc.edu;3. Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California |
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| Abstract: | Crowdfunded journalism is a new model for funding journalism in which reporters solicit micropayments from readers to finance their reporting. In the present study, we seek to identify the major motivations behind readers' donations to a pioneering crowdfunded journalism website, Spot.Us. Under the theoretical framework of collective action, we explore a total of 9 motivations: altruism, fun, belief in freedom of content, social, community, self-esteem, understanding, image, and family and friends. Combining self-reported survey data (N = 344) with behavioral data on readers' complete donation records obtained from the Spot.Us server, we found that belief in freedom of content, altruism, and contributing to one's community were self-reported to be highly valued by donors, but fun and family and friends motivations were the only positive predictors for actual donation levels. We discuss the implications of these findings on the sustainability of crowdfunding as a business model for news. |
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