Expanding financial communication: Investor relations, crowdfunding, and democracy in the time of fintech
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis studied financial communication in the context of a globalised, technologized, and financialised world. It arose from two seemingly opposite trends in practice and in academia. In practice, not only are technology and finance becoming more pervasive on their own, they are also merging as fintech, which is further disrupting financial and social practices. In academia, financial communication, more commonly, if incorrectly, known as investor relations, does not connect with these realities. While the trends in practice hold the promise of making profound impacts in democratising finance and promoting egalitarianism, their neglect in academia not only does a disservice to the practice but also threatens to further segregate and lower the poor reputation of public relations, which is the umbrella discipline that contains financial communication. Accordingly, the thesis attempted to bring financial communication closer to practice and to make an original contribution to knowledge by examining financial communication in the context of fintech. Specifically, it sought answers to the following two research questions: (1) What is the current state of academic research on investor relations and financial communication? and (2) In what ways could investor relations and financial communication integrate crowdfunding to their practice and research to further democratise finance and contribute to a fully functioning society? The thesis with publication includes four publications – three published journal articles and one book chapter (in press) – and each arose from a research project relevant to the overall theme. These projects identified how financial communication continues to be academically insular and disconnected from technology. Their findings also suggested how individually and in concert, by incorporating fintech and crowdfunding, financial communication can open up ways that benefit both practice and research. The thesis also found evidence that crowdfund…
abstract: This thesis studied financial communication in the context of a globalised, technologized, and financialised world. It arose from two seemingly opposite trends in practice and in academia. In practice, not only are technology and finance becoming more pervasive on their own, they are also merging as fintech, which is further disrupting financial and social practices. In academia, financial communication, more commonly, if incorrectly, known as investor relations, does not connect with these realities. While the trends in practice hold the promise of making profound impacts in democratising finance and promoting egalitarianism, their neglect in academia not only does a disservice to the practice but also threatens to further segregate and lower the poor reputation of public relations, which is the umbrella discipline that contains financial communication. Accordingly, the thesis attempted to bring financial communication closer to practice and to make an original contribution to knowledge by examining financial communication in the context of fintech. Specifically, it sought answers to the following two research questions: (1) What is the current state of academic research on investor relations and financial communication? and (2) In what ways could investor relations and financial communication integrate crowdfunding to their practice and research to further democratise finance and contribute to a fully functioning society? The thesis with publication includes four publications – three published journal articles and one book chapter (in press) – and each arose from a research project relevant to the overall theme. These projects identified how financial communication continues to be academically insular and disconnected from technology. Their findings also suggested how individually and in concert, by incorporating fintech and crowdfunding, financial communication can open up ways that benefit both practice and research. The thesis also found evidence that crowdfund…
author: Doan, Mai Anh
keywords: financial communication, investor relations, financial public relations, crowdfunding, financial democracy, thesis with publication
license: https://researchcommons.waikato.ac.nz/bitstreams/706a3978-ca5a-4892-91ea-13bc1b82d5b3/download
date published: 2018
date modified: 2026-07-24T05:57:38Z
provider: University Waikato
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Waikato