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This paper aims to provide a multidisciplinary framework that allows an integrated understanding of reasons of success or failure in equity crowdfunding (ECF), a Fintech digital innovation of the traditional entrepreneurial finance, defining a future research agenda.

A systematic literature review (SLR) has been conducted on 127 documents extracted from two multidisciplinary repositories (Elsevier’s Scopus and Clarivate Analytics Web of Science) for the period between 2015 and early 2022. After a systematized series of inclusion and exclusion criteria, in line with the objectives and conceptual boundaries, a final list of 32 peer-reviewed articles written in English was analyzed by the authors through a meta-synthesis and thematic analysis to identify the key themes and dominant concepts.

Results show that the body of literature is recent and fast growing. The proposed integrative framework of existing research indicates that the outcome of an ECF campaign is related to signals conveyed by entrepreneurs in the form of hard information (firm characteristics, financial information, business characteristics and project description) and soft information (intellectual capital, human capital, social capital and social media network), catalyzed by digital media that facilitate also personal interactions between entrepreneurs and investors. Similarly, external factors (investors and campaign characteristics, with the fundamental role of ECF platform managers in building trust between entrepreneurs and investors) allow for the alleviation of information asymmetries. The present study sheds light on which signal mechanisms are decisive in improving the outcome, taking into consideration various disciplines which follow different but complementary perspectives.

Entrepreneurs should adapt to the transition toward the digital era, exploiting alternative financial instruments and learning effective signaling strategies, within a large variety of skills requested. Platform managers can obtain more focused information on selected entrepreneurial projects more efficiently.

Although it is fast-growing, the field of research is very recent, still fragmented and limited to the perspective/discipline followed. This SLR is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first multidisciplinary and integrative analysis of reasons that motivates success, or failure, of an equity-based crowdfunding campaign. The digital nature of ECF encourages future research to move toward more pioneering and unconventional theories and research methods. Hence, the authors add to the existing literature by proposing future patterns of research based on an integration of highly technological skills and behavioral/psychological approaches.

This paper aims to dismantle the idea that sex per se explains entrepreneurial outcomes and demonstrates the influence of a gendered motivation on forging and shaping new venture teams, which is a disruptive choice affecting the future of start-ups.

A two-level research model is validated on data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics II (PSED II), with a system of simultaneous equations. First, if team features affect the performance of new ventures is tested; then, the study investigates determinants of team features with a focus on sex and motivation of nascent entrepreneurs.

Human capital (HC) in terms of education and experience of team members consistently explains venture evolution only when considering the larger team of affiliates. The HC gathered by nascent entrepreneurs is not because of the simplistic sex condition, but rather to a gendered motivation related to the inferior need of achievement of women.

Limitations of discretionary scoring assigned to items of the PSED II survey are present, but unavoidable when processing qualitative data.

Women need to be (culturally) educated on how to re-balance their personal motivation towards entrepreneurship by fostering their incentives for achievement. Political and educational programmes could trigger success in the creation of new businesses led by women.

This paper contributes to the literature on nascent entrepreneurship, focusing on the entrepreneurial teams in the initial phase of business creation, and provides the basis for further studies aimed at eradicating the stereotypes of gender roles that lead women to self-exclusion and organizational errors.

The literature on the drivers affecting retail investor preferences towards socially responsible investments (SRIs) has increased significantly over recent years, revealing several influencing factors. Given the wide variety and ambiguity of the available evidence, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the existing literature on this topic and develop a new unified approach to study this phenomenon.

We conducted a systematic literature review, followed by a research profile analysis and a thematic analysis, which uncovered four major emerging foci: the research outcome type, the external environment, sociodemographic characteristics and the internal dimension of retail investors.

Our analysis revealed that studies investigating investor preferences often neglected to consider the concurring influence of multiple perspectives. In fact, we observed how the literature has not yet adequately addressed the mediating and moderating effects of the various factors that determine retail investor decisions regarding SRI.

In response to these shortfalls, we propose a new integrated conceptual framework that may inspire scholars to conduct further studies to refine our understanding of investor preferences towards SRI.

This framework offers some suggestions on how to expand future research and underline some managerial and policy interventions aimed at developing the retail demand for these products.

To our knowledge, this is the first study to perform a systematic review on the drivers of SRIs, elaborating a new conceptual framework to understand the dynamics of retail investor sustainable preferences.

This paper aims to improve knowledge of individual heterogeneity in affecting the entrepreneurial attitude, taking socioeconomic drivers under control thanks to a cross-country analysis. The authors operate a “selection” of proxy for individual heterogeneity, mainly based on gender, demographical features, personal attitude and intrinsic motivation.

This exploration is supported by an empirical analysis based on the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), for the period 2001-2012, and for a selection of 37 countries. It is expected that gender and further individual variables have an impact on the probability to become a nascent entrepreneur (e.g. age, level of education, self-confidence, social perception of self-employment as career choice). This paper evaluates the degree of consistency of these variables across very dissimilar countries.

Gender and confidence on own skill play a significant and consistent effect on the entrepreneurial attitude, so these personal features are, per se, the driving-strength of entrepreneurial intent. Conversely, fear of failure and belief on the status are not always statistically significant, or not homogenous in their relationship: socioeconomic or country-specific characteristics are strong and sort out in an unpredictable relationship between these variables and the willingness to run new ventures.

A limited selection of individual features constrained by availability of information from the GEM data set.

The motivation of this paper is to focus-back attention on intra-individual features that may affect entrepreneurship and to support evidence of whether individual heterogeneity is able to affect the entrepreneurial attitude, taking socioeconomic drivers under control.

An institutional and political commitment should be intensified to reduce the waste of opportunities that is associated with any forms of self-exclusion from entrepreneurship, such as those based on gender (being women) or (low) self-esteem.

Due to the “individual” perspective, this paper adds to previous studies that exploited the GEM data set because they mostly follow an institutional conceptual framework.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how psychological variables are related to real-life insurance consumption. Specifically, the authors focus on whether emotions and psychological traits can improve the predictability of insurance demand, taking traditional socioeconomic variables under control.

The approach used was in-person survey, based on a traditional questionnaire, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale and a psycho-physiological task (Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)).

A selective role of emotions and psychological traits has been proven to exist when comparing different insurance policies. Life and casualty insurance are affected by emotional arousal to losses; indemnity insurance by fear of the unknown, whereas health insurance by impulsivity.

The findings indicate that individual insurance consumption may be amplified by not cognitive components. Future research should concentrate on testing the effect of further psychological traits related to pure risk coverage.

The results may be of interest for insurers in order to know what drives insurance demand with respect to different kinds of pure risks.

For policymakers, it is important to understand how psychological factors affect consumer behavior in order to incorporate such perspective into modern insurance policy measures. An analysis of such factors may also increase the self-consciousness of insurance consumers and enrich consumer self-protection.

The authors propose an interdisciplinary approach to analyze insurance demand and test different kinds of insurance coverage, suggesting not homogenous hedging behaviors in relation to specific ambiguous events.

This chapter explains the added value of learning the EU via interactive academic teaching and focused training provided by experts and practitioners. The EUMedEA Crash Course (CC) is an intensive training course mixing teaching, research and expertise funded by the European Commission via the EUMedEA Jean Monnet Chair. It was held for three editions (2016–2018) at the University of Catania. Based upon studying and sharing the expertise on crisis at the EU Mediterranean borders, this intensive learning experience allowed young and senior researchers to interact in a qualified academic context by looking at the on-field activities of the experts directly involved in the crisis management, in Italy or in other Mediterranean countries. The selected topic – crises at the EU Mediterranean borders and migration in particular – has involved an international group of instructors and researchers who profited of the expertise of those who experience practices on the ground. The EUMedEA CC tried to bridge the gap between academia and experts by providing excellence teaching, focusing on a various range of crisis managers willing to share their everyday business. New crises require new actors, strategies and instruments, thus new analytical tools to understand new and old practices to address crises in the Mediterranean area are needed. In sum, by providing an innovative teaching based upon experience on the ground, this CC has brought the EU as a crisis manager closer to European (young) researchers.