Advancing in Civic Crowdfunding Research: a Systematic Literature Review and Future Agenda

Although the academic spotlight has been on Civic Crowdfunding (CCF) since 2013, thus providing the basis for a promising field of research, studies on the subject of CCF are limited and fragmented; even though the ongoing academic debate legitimizes CCF as an autonomous field of research. Indeed, even if the subject under study is relatively recent, findings have shown that the research field is showing signs of increasing maturity. Research on the topic has crossed the boundaries of multiple fields and has been conducted on the basis of knowledge from heterogeneous areas demonstrating the relative interdisciplinary importance. Although the number of CCF campaigns has greatly increased since the emergence of the first dedicated platform. However, the interdisciplinary nature and growth of scientific output on CCF make it difficult to systematize the current literature, leading to the risk that the discussion will stabilize without further progress. Academics, researchers, and practitioners intent on employing the growing body of knowledge on CCF fail to take a holistic view of it and risk delving into topics not relevant to knowledge development. In light of the above, this study by conducting a systematic literature review aims to identify the areas of CCF on which researchers have focused their attention hoping to bring clarity to this fragmented field and further advance the scientific understanding of the topic by outlining future research directions. Articles on CCF were identified by means of searching in two different search engines: SCOPUS and ISI Web of Science. Our review has significant theoretical impact as it makes multiple contributions. First, it builds on existing knowledge by identifying key methodological approaches, highlighting the most relevant research topics, and providing guidelines for future research activities. Second, from a practical and managerial perspective, this study enables practitioners, governments, and anyone interested in proposing and/or funding CCF campaigns to support strategic analyses aimed at designing and sustaining civic campaigns and the movement related to public works funding through citizen engagement.