Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to decipher the contradictions and the ambiguities of crowdfunding as a term and as a practice to reveal the deeper significance of its underlying Zeitgeist. Design/methodology/approach – Three steps were followed. In the first one, the authors...

Crowdfunding as an entrepreneurial phenomenon substitutes traditional sources of finance (banks, financial markets, governments) for the crowd. Socially and economically, it is challenging the traditional boundaries that have been set for centuries between industry, the financial sector, and the...