Crowdfunding and religiosity : an understanding of the dynamics of religiosity on social lending in Kiva

• Main Author: Pinto, Manuela Vanessa Gonçalves
• Publication Date: 2013
• Format: Master thesis
• Language: eng
• Source: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Download full: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/15523
• topic: Religion; Religiosity; Spirituality; Pro-social; Micro-lending; Crowdfunding; Kiva

This dissertation aims to study the discrepancy between academic research and laboratory studies regarding the relationship between the religiosity level of an individual and its engagement with pro-social activities. This study examined the hypothesis that religiosity, spirituality and/or altruistic values would display a pro-social behaviour on on-line micro-lending. A survey of 3928 individuals from the Crowdfunding platform Kiva.org contributed to the understanding of the relationship between religiosity and pro-social behaviour on on-line platforms. Findings in this setting indicate that non-religious individuals display a higher engagement level with online pro-social activities on Kiva than do religious or spiritual individuals. Discussion focused on the discrepancy between in-group and out-group affiliation within religious individuals (different values), as well as feminine and non-feminine targets. This has clear implications for micro-lending platform owners, consumer behaviour, marketing segmentation and targeting of online users.