Tell me how you feel, and I’ll tell you about your crowd. How entrepreneur motivation influences crowdfunding modality choices

Drawing on Self-Determination Theory, this paper examines how entrepreneurs’ basic psychological needs shape their choice of crowdfunding modality. Existing crowdfunding research has mainly addressed backers’ motivations, while entrepreneurs’ needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness remain underexplored. The study adopts a mixed-methods design, combining 46 semi-structured interviews with a follow-up questionnaire administered to 91 entrepreneurs, and uses the Self-Determination Theory motivational continuum as an analytical lens. The qualitative analysis identifies four entrepreneurial profiles characterized by different configurations of need satisfaction and frustration. The quantitative results support these patterns: entrepreneurs using financial crowdfunding, namely equity or lending, report higher competence and lower autonomy than those using non-financial modalities, namely reward or donation. Logistic regression further shows competence as a positive correlate and autonomy as a negative correlate of financial crowdfunding use. The paper contributes to entrepreneurial finance by showing that crowdfunding decisions reflect both psychological and economic considerations.