Kiva.org: Crowd-Sourced Microfinance & Cooperation in Group Lending

Abstract

At the end of 2008 Kiva.org announced the creation of “Lending Teams,” or cohesive open or closed membership groups established and categorized according to scope. These Lending Teams introduce forms of cooperative many-to-one and many-to-many group lending, based on tenuous concepts of identity. Groups vary according to category, size, scope, and activity, and this impacts participatory vitality of crowd-sourced lending. Looking specifically at Kiva.org as a prominent online community for peer-to-peer lending, this study seeks to evaluate the advent of “Lending Teams,” their subsequent impact on group lending behavior, and the extent to which group openness, size, and categorization does or does not substantively alter online cooperative behavior.