The Star Citizen Phenomenon & the “Ultimate Dream Management” Technique in Crowdfunding

Jan-Philipp Ahrens; Andrew Jay Isaak; Baris Istipliler; Dennis Steininger

The Star Citizen Phenomenon & the “Ultimate Dream Management” Technique in Crowdfunding

Jan-Philipp Ahrens
, Andrew Jay Isaak
, Baris Istipliler
, Dennis Steininger

Publication: Chapter in book/Conference proceeding › Contribution to conference proceedings

Abstract

Developing and keeping a community motivated is critical for success, particularly in self-hosted crowdfunding. Existing research has identified social capital as an important driver of such endeavors. However, the process of how social capital can be developed, managed, and targeted towards a common goal in digital settings is mostly unknown. Applying social exchange theory and a mixed-methods approach, we leverage a large dataset of one of the world’s most-funded crowdfunding projects – Star Citizen – to zoom in on the process of social capital development as a success factor. We depict how repeated social exchange and reciprocity norms foster the emergence of a cohesive and supportive community from a crowd of strangers. Moreover, we explain how this is used by Start Citizen within five themes of a novel and IS-enabled managerial technique focusing on dreams. Our insights generalize to contexts beyond crowdfunding that require the engagement of crowds for joint value creation.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2019)
Subtitle of host publication	Munich, Germany, December 15-18, 2019
Publisher	AIS Association for Information Systems
Number of pages	9
ISBN (Print)	978-0-9966831-9-7
Publication status	Published - 11 Nov 2019
Externally published	Yes

Publication series

Series	Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS)
ISSN	3067-0896

Keywords

Social exchange theory
Crowdfunding
Game research
management research

Access to Document

https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2019/crowds_social/crowds_social/7/Licence: Unspecified

Cite this

Ahrens, J.-P., Isaak, A. J., Istipliler, B., & Steininger, D. (2019). The Star Citizen Phenomenon & the “Ultimate Dream Management” Technique in Crowdfunding. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2019): Munich, Germany, December 15-18, 2019 Article 1959 AIS Association for Information Systems. https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2019/crowds_social/crowds_social/7/

Ahrens, Jan-Philipp ; Isaak, Andrew Jay ; Istipliler, Baris et al. / The Star Citizen Phenomenon & the “Ultimate Dream Management” Technique in Crowdfunding. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2019): Munich, Germany, December 15-18, 2019. AIS Association for Information Systems, 2019. (Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS)).

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abstract = "Developing and keeping a community motivated is critical for success, particularly in self-hosted crowdfunding. Existing research has identified social capital as an important driver of such endeavors. However, the process of how social capital can be developed, managed, and targeted towards a common goal in digital settings is mostly unknown. Applying social exchange theory and a mixed-methods approach, we leverage a large dataset of one of the world{\textquoteright}s most-funded crowdfunding projects – Star Citizen – to zoom in on the process of social capital development as a success factor. We depict how repeated social exchange and reciprocity norms foster the emergence of a cohesive and supportive community from a crowd of strangers. Moreover, we explain how this is used by Start Citizen within five themes of a novel and IS-enabled managerial technique focusing on dreams. Our insights generalize to contexts beyond crowdfunding that require the engagement of crowds for joint value creation.",

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Ahrens, J-P, Isaak, AJ, Istipliler, B & Steininger, D 2019, The Star Citizen Phenomenon & the “Ultimate Dream Management” Technique in Crowdfunding. in Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2019): Munich, Germany, December 15-18, 2019., 1959, AIS Association for Information Systems, Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS). <https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2019/crowds_social/crowds_social/7/>

The Star Citizen Phenomenon & the “Ultimate Dream Management” Technique in Crowdfunding. / Ahrens, Jan-Philipp; Isaak, Andrew Jay; Istipliler, Baris et al.
Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2019): Munich, Germany, December 15-18, 2019. AIS Association for Information Systems, 2019. 1959 (Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS)).

Publication: Chapter in book/Conference proceeding › Contribution to conference proceedings

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AB - Developing and keeping a community motivated is critical for success, particularly in self-hosted crowdfunding. Existing research has identified social capital as an important driver of such endeavors. However, the process of how social capital can be developed, managed, and targeted towards a common goal in digital settings is mostly unknown. Applying social exchange theory and a mixed-methods approach, we leverage a large dataset of one of the world’s most-funded crowdfunding projects – Star Citizen – to zoom in on the process of social capital development as a success factor. We depict how repeated social exchange and reciprocity norms foster the emergence of a cohesive and supportive community from a crowd of strangers. Moreover, we explain how this is used by Start Citizen within five themes of a novel and IS-enabled managerial technique focusing on dreams. Our insights generalize to contexts beyond crowdfunding that require the engagement of crowds for joint value creation.

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Ahrens JP, Isaak AJ, Istipliler B, Steininger D. The Star Citizen Phenomenon & the “Ultimate Dream Management” Technique in Crowdfunding. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2019): Munich, Germany, December 15-18, 2019. AIS Association for Information Systems. 2019. 1959. (Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS)).