Corporate Governance and Security-based Crowdfunding: From a Platform-level to a Firm-level Analysis

This research has the focus to carry out an in-depth analysis of corporate governance in security-based crowdfunding. Prior studies have often compared security-based crowdfunding with initial public offerings or with other types of early-stage finance providers. However, in security-based crowdfunding, small investors invest alongside professional early-stage investors. People from almost every country around the world have access to crowdfunding platforms and invest in promising campaigns or seek for capital to finance their businesses. The research work aims to answer the following research question “Do corporate governance matter in security-based crowdfunding?”. We address our research question by investigating corporate governance both at the platform and firm level. First, we investigate the relationship between financial literacy and the survival profile of security-based crowdfunding platforms, and how governance structures moderate such relationships. Second, we study the relationship between ESG criteria and the development of security-based crowdfunding platforms. Last, we focus on differences between family and non-family firms, providing new insights into the uniqueness of family firms relative to non-family firms in the delivery of voting rights and post-offering outcomes.