Jun 2026
Teaching
Co-taught "Tech for Good" (BUS/SOAN 368), a Spring Term Abroad course in Ghana with sociologist Jon Eastwood, featured in W&L's The Columns.
Bright Frimpong, PhD
Assistant Professor of Business Administration (Data Science)
Washington & Lee University
Williams School of Commerce, Economics & Politics · Lexington, VA
Entrepreneurial Legitimacy
Crowdfunding
AI in Digital Markets
Emerging Markets
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.Proverbs 9:10
01 · About
Akwaaba!
Akwaaba means welcome in Ghana. I am an Assistant Professor of Business Administration (Data Science) at the Williams School of Commerce, Economics and Politics at Washington and Lee University, where I teach business analytics and data visualization. My research examines entrepreneurial legitimacy on digital platforms and how it manifests across different contexts.
Much of my work is set in crowdfunding and digital entrepreneurship, with particular attention to emerging markets. I study how entrepreneurs establish legitimacy with backers they will never meet, how ventures raise capital where traditional financial institutions fall short, and how platforms designed around Western assumptions interact with communities that have their own traditions of collective fundraising. That interest motivated my research on Harambee, the Kenyan practice of community fundraising, and a broader argument that digital finance should be designed around local values rather than imported ones. Though information systems is my home discipline, my work crosses into entrepreneurship, marketing, and sociology, and I regularly collaborate across those fields. This research has appeared in leading journals in information systems and entrepreneurship, including the Journal of the Association for Information Systems, the Information Systems Journal, and the Journal of Business Venturing Insights, and has established, among other findings, that value alignment between founders and backers is a significant driver of campaign success.
My current research examines legitimacy in the age of AI. I ask whether artificial intelligence can broaden access to capital for underrepresented founders and how exaggerated AI claims affect the trust that backers place in campaigns. Evidence from Kickstarter and Indiegogo indicates that campaigns invoking AI capabilities are funded at lower rates, a result that runs counter to established findings in the crowdfunding literature. This ongoing work is funded by the 2026 Mednick Memorial Fellowship from the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges.
I grew up in Ghana, where I also earned my undergraduate degree, before completing my doctorate in the United States. That trajectory informs both my research agenda and my teaching. This spring I co-taught "Tech for Good," a Spring Term Abroad course that brought W&L students to Ghana to examine how technology interacts with local institutions and trust, and I am co-editing a special issue on alternative finance in Africa. Away from work, I am a Christian, a husband, and father to a beautiful little girl. I love soccer and basketball, both playing and watching.
02 · Updates
Latest news
Mar 2026
Fellowship
Awarded the 2026 Mednick Memorial Fellowship (VFIC) to study how overstated AI claims ("AI washing") affect crowdfunding success and backer trust.
2026
Editorial
Co-editing a special issue on Alternative Finance in Africa, covering crowdfunding, crypto-assets, digital microfinance, and mobile-money ecosystems.
Jan 2026
Publication
New paper accepted at Information Systems Frontiers on smartphone addiction and innovative performance (with M. Moqbel & L. Zhang).
2025
Publication
Two crowdfunding papers published in the Journal of the Association for Information Systems and the Information Systems Journal.
2023
Honor
Selected for the AIS Entrepreneurial Innovation Fellowship, sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation.
03 · Research & Publications
Peer-reviewed scholarship
Work on crowdfunding, digital entrepreneurship, and AI in digital markets, published in leading information systems and entrepreneurship outlets.
Journal Publications
2026
The Paradoxical Impact of Smartphone Addiction on Innovative Performance: A Conservation of Resources Theory Perspective
Moqbel, M., Frimpong, B., & Zhang, L. — Information Systems Frontiers, 2026
ABDC AABS 3
2025
Achieving Reward-based Crowdfunding Project Success: An Examination of Value Congruence
Frimpong, B., Ayaburi, E., & Andoh-Baidoo, F. K. — Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 2025
ABDC A*ABS 4*
2025
Harambee as a Decolonial Digital Fundraising Approach
Frimpong, B., Ayaburi, E., & Andoh-Baidoo, F. K. — Information Systems Journal, 2025
ABDC A*ABS 4
2024
Impact of Campaign Bundling on the Success of Donation-Based Crowdfunding
Frimpong, B., Ayaburi, E., Andoh-Baidoo, F. K., Wang, X., & Xiao, N. — International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 2024
ABDC AABS 3
2024
Take My Word for It! The Role of Projected Certainty Signaling and Certainty Alignment in Reward Crowdfunding Outcomes
Frimpong, B., Mohammed, F., Larson, M. K., & Anderson, H. J. — Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 2024
ABDC AABS 2
2024
Innovation Choices in Modern Times: The Interplay of Technology and Nontechnology Approaches
Anderson Jr., H., Amponsah-Odei, S., Frimpong, B., Stejskal, J., & Febiri, F. — International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2024
ABS 1
2020
Exploring the Link Between Green Manufacturing, Operational Competitiveness, Firm Reputation, and Sustainable Performance
Afum, E., Agyabeng-Mensah, Y., Sun, Z., Frimpong, B., Kusi, L. Y., & Acquah, I. S. K. — Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, 2020
ABDC B
Conference Proceedings
AI Fatalism's Impact on Perceived Job Outcomes
AMCIS 2026, forthcoming · with G. Hogan
Cracks in the System: How IT Workarounds Fuel Phishing and Data Breach Risks
ICIS 2025 TREO Talk · with J. Manga
Do Rewards Matter? Exploring Sentiment Homophily and Investor Decisions in Crowdfunding
Academy of Management 2025, Copenhagen · with A. Daunt
Towards a Privacy-Preserving Healthcare Analytics for Neurological Diseases Management
AMCIS-2024, Salt Lake City · with G. Owusu & Q. Liao
A Dual-Platform Examination of the Relationship Between Cognitive-Experiential Values and Project Success
HICSS-2024
Getting off the Digital Divide? Not So Fast! Exploring the Viability of Digital-Divide-Based Crowdfunding Models
HICSS-2024 · with D. N. Treku
Understanding Crowdfunding Backer-Founder Goal Alignment: Examination of Self-Construal Theory
AMA 2023, San Francisco
Technological and Non-technological Innovation: Open Innovation Decisions and the Moderating Role of Research Systems
IEEE ICE/ITMC 2023
Signalling in Donation Crowdfunding: The Role of Mixed Product and Ideological Bundling
HICSS-2023
Unraveling the Cyberloafing Paradox: A Targeted Approach for Managing Cyberloafing
AMCIS-2022, Minneapolis
Individual Privacy Empowerment: Exploring the Trade-offs Between Information Sensitivity and Compensation
HICSS-2021 · Best Paper Nominee
The Effects of Data Breaches on Public Companies: A Mirage or Reality?
FICC-2021, Springer
Individual Privacy Empowerment in Electronic Service
AMCIS-2020, Salt Lake City
Workshops
The Perils and Promises of Big Data Research in Operations and Supply Chain Management
POMS 2021 · CARISCA 2021 Supply Chain Research Summit
The Moderating Effect of Telecommuting on ISP Precautionary Behavior
Dewald Roode Workshop (IFIP) 2021 · Best Student Reviewer
Accepting Privacy Scheme in the Presence of Consumer Privacy Fatalism: The ELM and Fear Appeals
Dewald Roode Workshop (IFIP) 2020
04 · Teaching
In the classroom
Washington & Lee University · Spring Term Abroad, Ghana
Spring 2026
BUS/SOAN 368 — Tech for Good
Co-taught with sociologist Jon Eastwood. Three weeks in Ghana examining how business owners use technology to build trust, solve problems, and foster development, often in ways that challenge Western assumptions. Students met market women running rotating credit associations, visited sites from slave-trade castles to the Museum of Science and Technology, and closed with a digital storytelling project.
Washington & Lee University
Course Instructor · Fall 2023 – present
BUS 306 — Data Visualization
Visual storytelling with data, from design principles to interactive dashboards.
BUS 202 — Fundamentals of Business Analytics
Statistics and data analysis for business with Python.
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Course Instructor · Fall 2022 – Spring 2023
INFS 3390 — Management Information Systems
ERP, data analytics, and visualization tools (SQL, Tableau, SPSS).
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Course Instructor · Spring 2022
INFS 2300 — Data Modeling & Management Tools
Hybrid, 36 students. Business analytics tools (Excel, R, Power BI).
University of Cape Coast
Teaching Assistant · 2014 – 2015
Business School — Avg. class of 280
Business Communication and Human Resource Management.
05 · Milestones
Honors & service
Honors & Awards
- 2026Mednick Memorial Fellowship, Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges
- 2023AIS Entrepreneurial Innovation Fellowship, sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation
- 2023HICSS Doctoral Fellows Program & Doctoral Consortium
- 2022PhD Student Excellence Award in Research, RCVCOBE, UTRGV — MIS Concentration & Overall Ph.D. Program winner
- 2021Best Student Reviewer, IFIP Dewald Roode Workshop
- 2021Best Paper Nominee, HICSS 54
- 2017Research Assistantship Funding, Georgia Southern University
- 2013Dean's Award for Academic Excellence, University of Cape Coast
Service
University · Washington & Lee
University Athletics Committee · Community-Based Learning Committee · Social Impact Committee, Williams School · Panelist, Fall/Winter Academy (Maximizing MLK Week)
Reviewer
Journals: JBV, JBVI, ISJ, JAF, ITP, IPM, ICT4D, Internet Research, ISF, ISMJ. Conferences: ICIS, HICSS, AMCIS, ECIS, MENACIS, AMA, Dewald Roode Workshop.
Professional
Session Chair, AMCIS 2026 · Session Chair, AMCIS 2022 · Panelist, AIS Doctoral Student College 2023
Affiliations
Association for Information Systems · IFIP Working Group 8.11 / 11.13
06 · Background
Education & experience
The path here
Cape Coast
Ghana
Tampa
Florida
Statesboro
Georgia
Rio Grande Valley
Texas
Lexington
Virginia
Education
PhD, Information Systems
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, TX · 2023
MBA, Business Administration
Information Systems concentration · Georgia Southern University · 2019
MS, Marketing
University of Tampa, FL · 2017
BA, Management Studies · First Class Honours
University of Cape Coast, Ghana · 2014
Experience
Graduate Research Assistant
Georgia Southern University · 2017–2019
Graduate Admissions Assistant
University of Tampa · 2016–2017
Teaching Assistant, Business School
University of Cape Coast · 2014–2015
Skills & tools
Python (ML)
R (text mining)
SPSS
SQL
Tableau
Power BI
SmartPLS
Qualtrics
SAP ERP
Wireshark