The innovation potential of Islamic crowdfunding platforms in contributing to sustainable development

Purpose – This paper aims at explaining variances in the contribution of Islamic crowdfunding platforms
(ICFPs) to sustainable development (SD), by adopting an institutional logic perspective (ILP). ICFPs represent a
dual institutional overlap between two logics (the Western-mainstream and the Islamic logic) which have an
impact on corporate social responsibility (CSR) interpretations, practices, and decisions and whose conflicts are
mitigated by choosing different resolution strategies. The authors aim at showing that this choice affects SD
differently.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors develop a conceptual typology through the following steps:
(1) choice of variables and identification of corresponding variable domains, through literature review.
Variables chosen are the elemental CSR dimensions related to various social and environmental corporate
responsibilities to whom diverse meaning and emphasis are given under the Western-mainstream and Islamic
logics. (2) Identification of three distinct ideal types of ICFPs, building on different resolution strategies to
mitigate conflicts between logics; (3) development, for each ideal type, of a set of implications related to SD;
(4) implementation of a first test aiming at assigning real cases to each ideal type.
Findings – The authors identify Western-mimicking (platforms adopting as resolution strategy decoupling or
compartmentalizing strategies), Islamic-driven (platforms focusing on one prevailing logic) and Syncretism-
inspired (platforms adopting hybridizing practices) ideal-types.
Originality/value – It is the first paper suggesting ILP to explain variances in crowdfunding platforms’ role
in addressing SD. It focuses on a specific type of CF platforms till now neglected.