Relational capital and crowdfunding. A new Opportunity for Italian woman start-ups

This study aimed to analyse whether relational capital (RC) could help a woman start-up (WSU) fundraise during the early stages. Following previous studies about start-ups as means of development for economic context (Paoloni and Modaffari 2018) and about the role of innovative financial tools (e.g. crowdfunding) in their financial structure, the study investigated whether RC and the success of crowdfunding operations were connected. Focusing on gender studies, the literature review confirmed a gap between crowdfunding and WSUs. Therefore, a qualitative research methodology using a multiple case study was utilized, and the CAOS (“Characteristics, Ambience, Organization, Start-up”) model of micro-entrepreneurship by Paoloni (2011) was applied. From this model, some factors were identified, and different types of connections were classified that determined several kinds of existing relationships. The findings of this explorative research showed a positive effect of RC on WSU fundraising operations. WSUs were able to fundraise successfully if they established a permanent and formal relationship with the external environment. This study contributes to the scientific literature on gender studies, RC and the use of alternative methods in the field of finance. The managerial implication of the study is as follows: knowledge and practice should be advanced in the area of women in business and in the start-up stage of RC to develop fundraising processes with innovative financial tools, such as crowdfunding. The limitation of the research concerned the SMEs (start-ups). Analysis of data was available only through direct interviews with female entrepreneurs. Future research perspectives should focus on the acquisition of more data on the topic of WSUs and crowdfunding. In this way, it will investigate which RC factors contribute to the success of fundraising operations.