From Conceptual Foundations to Digital Platforms: Trends, Influential Works, and Future Directions of Islamic Crowdfunding

Abstract

Muslim-majority economies face a challenge where Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are constrained by a lack of access to formal financial services. This constrains MSMEs ability to innovate and create economic value. Islamic crowdfunding is a promising alternative that is technology-driven and Shariah compliant. There has been interest in the field of MSME financing in entrepreneurial ecosystems for the past twenty years but there has been no comprehensive bibliometric study. This paper presents a systematic bibliometric study with respect to Islamic crowdfunding between the years of 2006 to 2026. Following the PRISMA 2020 framework 1452 records were taken from Scopus, where 130 articles were identified for analysis. Using VOSviewer, five major themes were identified based on the analysis of the co-occurrence network of the articles: (1) technology and investor behaviour, (2) Shariah compliance and governance of the platforms, (3) financing of entrepreneurship and MSMEs, (4) the environment of entrepreneurship and regulatory issues, (5) innovation in financial markets. It was noted that the articles focused on the platforms and the Investors, and that the studies were primarily cross-sectional in nature.