The starring role of crowdfunding in GCC: a structured literature review

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand and analyze the key topics on which scholars have engaged in relation to crowdfunding and its starring role in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries from an Islamic perspective. A Structured Literature Review (SLR) is used in this study to assess how scholars carried out their studies in order to better understand future research directions. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a SLR methodology and considered 89 peer-reviewed studies published between 1981 and 2021 in GCC countries. Findings The study identified the starring role of crowdfunding from the Islamic perspective, its role in economic development and its role as a source of finance for new business startups in GCC countries. Research limitations/implications Because the research was conducted by a single person, his subjective interpretation might have an impact on the results. Furthermore, only journal papers limited to GCC and published between 1981 and 2021 were examined. Practical implications Countries in GCC might recognize the starring role of crowdfunding for their SMEs and economic development. Originality/value The authors draw avenues for future research by considering the starring role of crowdfunding using SLR from the Islamic perspective. This helps future researchers to identify the starring role of crowdfunding to contextualize in GCC countries.