Success Factors in Reward based and Equity based Crowdfunding in Finland

10.2. Limitations of the Study and Future Research 
As with most research, this study does not come without its limitations. Firstly, only 
one source of online data was used and only five interviews carried out. This does not 
allow conclusions to be very generalizable. Since findings for interviews only repre-

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Master’s Thesis 
79 
sent the views and opinions of the respondents, it is difficult to make broad assump-
tions based on them. 
Secondly, all interviewees were Finnish and had conducted their crowdfunding pro-
ject in Finland. This also limits the generalizability of the findings. Finland represents 
one, relatively small crowdfunding region with its own unique regulations. Thus, suc-
cess factors are likely to be different in comparison to other regions, due to for exam-
ple legal regulation. 
Thirdly, only one researcher collected and analyzed the gathered data. This means that 
the interpretation of the results may be biased and affected by the views of the single 
interpreter. When multiple researchers are involved in the process, the analysis takes 
more points of view into consideration (Eskola and Suoranta, 1998). 
Despite these shortcomings, this thesis has aspects that support its credibility. For one, 
the research was done using triangulation. By using several methods of data gather-
ing, the researcher employs the strengths of each method, while mitigating the weak-
nesses (Grey, 2013). Also, the findings in this thesis are in line with other studies on 
crowdfunding. Frydrych et al. (2014) showed that funders use the actions of other 
funders as a source of relevant information and communication from the entrepreneur 
should be transparent and persuasive. Additionally, shorter project durations and an 
entrepreneur team of more than one affect crowdfunding success positively. 
Ward and 
Ramachandran (2010) also highlighted how funders base their decision-making on the 
actions of other funders. They also showed shorter project durations have a positive 
impact on crowdfunding success.
As crowdfunding is such a new field of research, there are numerous aspects that 
could and should be researched. The author of this thesis suggests, that future research 
should focus on the unique success factors that affect donation crowdfunding, as well 
as lending-based crowdfunding. Additionally, certain success factors, such as social 
networks as well as information sharing and communication should be further re-
searched. Also, as stated in earlier studies (Lasrado and Lugmayr, 2013), Finland as a 
unique crowdfunding environment should be analyzed in more detail.