Analysing the Role of Crowdfunding in Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: A Social Media Event Study of Two Competing Product Launches

The aim of the explorative study is to understand the role of crowdfunding in the facilitation of customer engagement for entrepreneurial ecosystems, using data from two recent events of competing product launches. We conducted an event study that employed content analysis and emotion analysis, as well as social set analysis (SSA) of Facebook data to uncover and better understand crowdfunder (investor and customer) engagement and interactions before, during and after a crowdfunding campaign event. Our paper focuses especially on the role of Jolla's tablet crowdfunding campaign in the development of its fanbase in relation with Nokia's tablet launch during Slush 2014 event. On the basis of the above analyses and related literature, we present propositions about various types of engagement with the potential to facilitate the evolution of entrepreneurial ecosystems. We discuss the results and evaluate the implications of crowdfunding on customer engagement for entrepreneurial ecosystems and conclude with directions for future work. One of the key contributions of the study is the introduction of a new data source and approach for co-creative interaction between companies and their customers, as well as an approach to support the study of ecosystems from a customer perspective.