What Influences the Market Outcome of Online P2P Lending Marketplace?

Online Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending marketplaces allow individuals to lend and borrow directly among each other without the mediation of a creditor bank institution. Prior literature has examined online P2P, but has largely been limited to the Western context. This paper thus explores how social capital and other factors influences online P2P lending in the U.S. and China. Based on the archival data of Prosper and PPDai, we compare market outcome of two online P2P lending marketplaces in the U.S. and China. The empirical results show that social capital is not equally important in different online communities. Social capital seems to be more influential for likelihood of getting funded in China than in the U.S. In contrast, social capital has influence on interest rate in the U.S. only. The authors' study thus extends current understanding about how social capital influences online communities to a global perspective.