Still Waiting for Rewards? User Entrepreneur’s Reward Delivery Performance in Crowdfunding

Research on crowdfunding has largely focused on fundraising success, overlooking post-success outcomes. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory, we hypothesize that user entrepreneurs show higher intrinsic but lower extrinsic motivation than non-users, with intrinsic motivation boosting delivery performance and extrinsic motivation hindering it. Using a mixed-method approach—an exploratory qualitative study and an analysis of 322 crowdfunded ventures—we find that user entrepreneurs deliver rewards more timely than non-user entrepreneurs, and that intrinsic motivation significantly mediates this relationship, while extrinsic motivation’s mediating role is insignificant. We contribute to the user entrepreneurship and crowdfunding literatures by highlighting drivers of post-campaign success.