Abstract:

The rapid advancement of medical crowdfunding has reinvigorated charitable activities. Many people initiate applications on medical crowdfunding platforms， but the received funds often fall short of their goals. Many are even unable to take advantage of the informal mutual aid. Fully understanding the donation motivations in medical crowdfunding is a prerequisite for addressing this issue. The research of reciprocal motives in medical crowdfunding is empirically investigated and it is suggested that these motives can be indirectly measured through social capital. Based on 2015-2018 data from a donation-based crowdfunding platform， a logit regression model and a linear regression model are employed to explore how regional social capital impacts medical crowdfunding success. The results reveal that campaigns from areas with higher social capital usually raise more funds， have higher success ratios， and reach their fundraising targets more easily compared to those from areas with lower social capital. Moreover， due to their unique social capital， student-initiated campaigns often achieve their fundraising goals more easily than those initiated by non-students. Furthermore， it is found that in medical crowdfunding， social capital and material capital， such as housing， are somewhat substitutable； higher material capital diminishes the effectiveness of social capital. The valuable suggestions are offered for crowdfunding applicants to improve their fundraising performance. Additionally， insights are provided into how to better promote medical crowdfunding platforms and encourage more people to participate in the third distribution.

Key words: medical crowdfunding, social capital, reciprocity, the third distribution