Social Innovation Matched Crowdfunding (SIM CROWD)

Last registered on June 07, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Social Innovation Matched Crowdfunding (SIM CROWD)
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005968
Initial registration date
June 04, 2020

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
June 04, 2020, 2:23 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
June 07, 2021, 4:09 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Austria
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Tess Landon
Affiliation
Austrian Research Promotion Agency
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Sofia Bapna
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Harald Hochreiter
PI Affiliation
Austrian Research Promotion Agency
PI Name
Philipp Aiginger
PI Affiliation
Austrian Research Promotion Agency
PI Name
Christopher Lebisch
PI Affiliation
Austrian Research Promotion Agency
PI Name
Gordon Burtch
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2020-09-01
End date
2021-08-31
Keywords
Firms & Productivity, Other
Additional Keywords
Social Innovation, crowdfunding
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
In this trial, we want to test if knowledge regarding partial funding for a social innovation project in Austria from a national public funding agency, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG), influences the likelihood of participants to invest in a crowdfunding campaign for social innovation projects, compared to just hearing about the crowdfunding campaign itself. The trial will consist of a series of emails to participants, in which new social innovation projects of various SMEs are introduced along with 30 day crowdfunding campaigns hosted on the platform Startnext. There is one control group, and who receives only the previous information, and 2 Treatment groups. Treatment group 1 will receive emails with an additional text saying that the social innovation project will receive Matched funding up to 50% of their project goal from the FFG. Treatment group 2 will receive emails with an additional text saying that the social innovation projects have received seed funding of 50% of the project costs already. Participants are individuals living and working in Austria who have previously signed up for email correspondence from the FFG.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Aiginger, Philipp et al. 2021. "Social Innovation Matched Crowdfunding (SIM CROWD) ." AEA RCT Registry. June 07. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5968-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2021-01-14
Intervention End Date
2021-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
1. Financial investment of participants in the crowdfunding campaigns
2. Click-rate of links to social crowdfunding campaigns in emails
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The trial will be conducted over a series of emails. Each participant will receive the exact same email introducing and promoting crowdfunding campaigns for social innovation projects, however the emails of the 2 treatment groups will have an additional text informing participants in these trial arms of funding from the FFG (see Intervention for more details).

Experimental Design Details
The social innovation projects being introduced are actual funded projects from SMEs accepted in the Impact Innovation funding scheme of the FFG in September, October, and November. There will be between 7-12 projects included in the experiment, ideally representing a variety of industries and social themes. The criteria for an innovation project to be considered will be published at a later time.

Random assignment will take place once, prior to the start of the trials. Participants will then receive up to three emails, with each email presenting between 2 - 4 crowdfunding campaigns, depending on how many projects are accepted into Impact Innovation and participate in the experiment. Thus, every participant will be informed of the same crowdfunding campaigns of social innovation projects and each participant will receive the same intervention (or no intervention) in each email.

Each crowdfunding campaign will last a total of 30 days.
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done by a computer program from a scientific consultant in the RCT, UMN. The RCT administrators will not do the randomization.
Randomization Unit
The randomization unit is the individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
20,000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
20,000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
equal assignment, thus around 6,666-6,667 individuals per trial arm.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials