Title: Motivations and barriers to crowdlending as a tool for diasporic entrepreneurial finance

Authors: Cécile Fonrouge; Daniela Bolzani

Addresses: Institut de recherche sur les PME, Université de Québec à Trois-Rivières UQTR, Pavillon: Desjardins-Hydro-Québec, Bureau 1416, Canada ' Dipartimento di Scienze dell'economia e della gestione aziendale, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 7, Via Necchi, Milano, Italy

Abstract: The flow of money from members of diasporas and their descendants back to their homelands is significant. In fact, such investments, when made in the form of loans aimed at sustaining entrepreneurship, can contribute to the economic development of the diasporan's home country. Given the increasing relevance of crowdlending as a method of entrepreneurial finance in developing countries, what are the factors that motivate diasporans to invest through online crowdlending instead of through more traditional options, and what barriers hinder them from doing so? We present a theoretical analysis that draws on the existing literature on crowdfunding and transnational entrepreneurship combined with field interviews with three founders of online diasporic platforms. We discuss the variables that must be taken into account when explaining the motivations of diasporans and the barriers hindering their engagement in online microlending. Several areas are highlighted for future theoretical and empirical research to study this largely under-researched phenomenon.

Keywords: crowdfunding; crowdlending; microlending; entrepreneurship; entrepreneurial finance; migration; diaspora; diasporan; diasporic investment; diasporic finance; transnational; developing countries.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2019.102822

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2019 Vol.23 No.6, pp.667 - 688

Accepted: 24 Jul 2018
Published online: 08 Oct 2019 *

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