2. Zaheer SHAIK
(B.Tech, MBA)
PhD candidate,
ESSEC Business
School, Paris
David Avison
(Supervisor)
ESSEC
Crowd funding:
Just the latest
fad?

3. $108,371 raised of $53,800 Goal
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/full-page-ad-for-turkish-democracy-in-action

4. What is crowd funding?
ESSEC

5. What is crowd funding?
ESSEC

6. Diffusion of innovation
ESSEC

7. Abrahamson, 1991
ESSEC

8. Abrahamson, 1996
ESSEC

9. Abrahamson and Fairchild, 1999
ESSEC

10. Fashion trends cycle
Upswing
Downswing
Peak
Residual
ESSEC

11. Baskerville and Myers, 2009
Propose a fashion trends model
ESSEC

12. What is missing?
• Actors given more importance than content
• Cumulative study vs. longitudinal effects
• Model unable to predict correctly
• A new model needed
ESSEC

13. Upswing phenomenon
Phenomenon
in real life
Practitioner
literature
Academic
literature
Becomes
mainstream
talk Becomes an
innovative
phenomenon
Building theory to
explain
phenomenon
ESSEC

14. Downswing phenomenon
Phenomenon
in real life
Practitioner
literature
Academic
literature
Residual
effect
Loses mainstream
interest
Loses interest as an
innovative phenomenon
Substantial research
done
Lag between
practitioner and
academic literature
ESSEC

15. Longitudinal effects
Current phenomenon
Downswing
Residual
effect
Upswing
t=T
t=T+1
Residual
effect
ESSEC

16. Longitudinal effects
Phenomenon
in real life
Practitioner
literature
Academic
literature
Phenomenon
in real life
Practitioner
literature
Academic
literature
Residual
effect
t=T
t=T+1
Residual
effect
ESSEC

17. Methodology
• Phase I – systematic literature review –
Okoli and Schabram (2010)
• Phase II – discourse analysis -
Abrahamson and Fairchild (1999)
• Search string
– “crowd funding” or “crowd-funding” or
“crowdfunding”
• 359 papers – 266 shortlisted
ESSEC

18. Discourse analysis
Term Definition Example (crowd funding)
Problem
discourse
A fashion upswing discourse proposing theories
about the problem source motivating fashion.
Venture capital funding is a risk
when all funds are invested in one
venture.
Solution
discourse
A fashion upswing discourse describing the
fashion with claims that it is all powerful in scope
and impact.
Crowd funding spreads the risk of
venture capital funding and gives
more choice to investors.
Bandwagon
discourse
A fashion upswing discourse relating stories about
firms successfully adopting the fashion.
Kickstarter has used crowd funding
effectively to raise funds for its
users.
Debunking
discourse
A fashion downswing discourse advocating
rejection of the fashion.
Crowd funding was simply
something used to get around
stringent investment laws.
Surfing
discourse
A fashion downswing discourse advocating a
transition from one fashion to the next.
Crowd funding will transition into a
new and different form because of
the JOBS Act.
Sustaining
discourse
A fashion downswing discourse advocating the
fashion despite falling interest.
Crowd funding will sustain despite
the JOBS Act coming into being.

19. Expected results
• Existence of fashion trends in IS topics
• Existence of synchronized agenda
between practitioner and academic
publications
• Move towards building a model that can
better explain fashion trends in IS literature
ESSEC

20. Future research
• Complete SLR and discourse analysis
• Check for the robustness of the method
• Test and refine the model
• Test the model on other phenomenon
ESSEC

21. Thank you
Discussion time
Zaheer SHAIK
zaheer.shaik@essec.edu
ESSEC