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First impressions of digital pitches, innovation, and venture funding performance: An evolutionary psychology approach
... The path forward must include building ecosystems that sustain digital competence development beyond initial training sessions. Education systems must institutionalize mentorship, peer support, and recognition structures that incentivize ongoing learning (ERFANI et al., 2025;Maurer et al., 2025). Collaborations between governments, local organizations, and teacher networks can co-create professional development models that are flexible, scalable, and deeply rooted in classroom realities. ...
Background. Digital competence has become a fundamental requirement for educators navigating 21st-century learning environments. In rural India, where infrastructural limitations and socio-economic disparities persist, equipping teachers with digital skills is critical to reducing educational inequities and fostering inclusive development. Purpose. This study explores initiatives aimed at developing digital competence among educators in rural Indian contexts, focusing on both the opportunities and systemic challenges involved. The research aims to assess the effectiveness of targeted training programs, identify contextual barriers, and evaluate the sustainability of digital integration in teaching practices. Method. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining surveys of 150 rural teachers across three Indian states with in-depth interviews and field observations. Results indicate that while most educators demonstrated enthusiasm for technology adoptionResults. Results indicate that while most educators demonstrated enthusiasm for technology adoption, significant gaps remain in technical proficiency, access to reliable internet, and availability of culturally relevant digital content. Teachers who received structured, context-specific training exhibited improved confidence, pedagogical innovation, and student engagement. Conclusion. The study concludes that sustained progress in rural digital education requires investment in infrastructure, localized content development, and continuous professional development. These findings contribute to the discourse on digital equity and educational transformation in underserved regions.
Crowdfunding is a relatively nascent, rapidly growing phenomenon whereby individuals or ventures pursue funding from a potentially large number of backers via the Internet. This rapidly emerging literature invites a variety of conceptual lenses and offers significant potential to advance theoretical understanding of important organizational activities, such as how entrepreneurs and organizations are evaluated by external stakeholders or how the crowdfunding process shapes the strategic decisions of emerging organizations. Our integrative review seeks to discover how the extant body of crowdfunding research challenges, extends, and contributes to the theoretical understanding of management and organizational phenomena and how these insights might drive further theoretical advancement. To do so, we inductively identify ten dominant topics that span the crowdfunding landscape across disciplines (268 articles) and synthesize the major findings within each topic based on relevant theoretical concepts. In doing so, we highlight how each topic area has applied and advanced various organizational theories. We then leverage the ten topics to articulate opportunities for future research uncovered by our review that provide potential contributions to theories germane to the management literature and to guide the next decade of crowdfunding research.
Using data from 1899 Kickstarter campaigns
(2009–2019), we examine the impact of simultaneous
emission of interdimensional signals of human capital
and social causes on crowdfunding campaign success. We
argue and demonstrate that backers respond positively to
human capital signals, as reflected by prior work and entrepreneurial
experiences, as they communicate the competencies
of the entrepreneurs. Conversely, signaling a high
level of commitment to social causes communicates competing
demands, thereby reducing entrepreneurs' ability to
secure funding. Moreover, when emitted jointly, interaction
of these two signals negatively affects campaign success.
Our theory and findings provide nuanced insights regarding
simultaneously emitted interdimensional signals in
crowdfunding context with a structured incentive system,
thereby increasing our understanding about the ambiguous
nature of bundling human capital with high social cause
signals.
Crowdfunding, or soliciting small contributions from large and dispersed crowds through online platforms, is an increasingly indispensable strategy for established firms, young ventures, and aspiring entrepreneurs alike. Synthesizing research in the fields of management, entrepreneurship, innovation, operations, information systems, and marketing, we conduct an integrative review of the crowdfunding research accumulated over the past decade. We aim to break down disciplinary silos to develop a framework that integrates insights across research communities. We identify three underlying dimensions that differentiate extant research: the goal of the campaigner, the role of the crowd, and the boundary of the crowdfunding event. Scholars have brought two perspectives to bear on these questions: an elemental perspective and a processual perspective. We outline an integrative model that takes account of crowdfunding as a process involving heterogeneous participants with idiosyncratic monetary and non-monetary goals at different stages. Our multidisciplinary review of this expanding body of literature not only integrates dispersed insights but also, more importantly, stimulates a future research agenda that goes beyond the traditional boundaries of crowdfunding research.
Over the past two decades, a new picture of the cognitive unconscious has emerged from a variety of disciplines that are broadly part of cognitive science. According to this picture, unconscious processes seem to be capable of doing many things that were thought to require intention, deliberation, and conscious awareness. Moreover, they accomplish these things without the conflict and drama of the psychoanalytic unconscious. These processes range from complex information processing, through goal pursuit and emotions, to cognitive control and self-regulation. This collection of 20 original chapters by leading researchers examines the cognitive unconscious from social, cognitive, and neuroscientific viewpoints, presenting some of the most important developments at the heart of this new picture of the unconscious. The volume, the first book in the new Social Cognition and Social Neuroscience series, will be an important resource on the cognitive unconscious for researchers in cognitive psychology and neuroscience.
Building on recent research demonstrating consensus and accuracy in interpersonal perception based on minimal information, the present studies examined American and Chinese participants’ within- and cross-cultural judgments. In Study 1, the authors used the zero-acquaintance paradigm in the People's Republic of China and found consensus on all personality dimensions. In Study 2, Chinese and American participants judged each other on the basis of photographs, and consensus was found among Americans’ judgments of Chinese and Chinese participants’ judgments of Americans. Further, by correlating target effects based on within-culture zero-acquaintance judgments and cross-cultural photographic judgments, the authors found agreement in the judgments of individuals by members of their own culture and the other culture for both Chinese and Americans.
How does the viability of a product category shift over time? Studies abound on how categories emerge and become established, or fall out of use. Yet extant research often examined the evolution of categories one at a time, leaving open the question of how related categories affect a focal category's viability. In contrast, we consider both intra-and inter-category dynamics. Viewing categories as continuously shaped by actors' efforts to position their products, we argue that these efforts not only alter the coherence that products exhibit within a category (a category's heterogeneity), but also across related categories (a category's distinctiveness). We theorize how the interaction between a category's heterogeneity and distinctiveness shape its subsequent viability. When a focal category's distinctiveness is low, the heterogeneity-viability relationship takes an inverted U-shape. But as distinctiveness grows, the relationship flattens and eventually flips to a U-shape. We explain this flip by considering the trade-off between the 'classification' and 'valuation' benefits that a category affords. We find support for our argument by tracking 170 categories over an 11-year period on Kickstarter, one of the largest crowdfunding platforms. By providing a nuanced understanding of category dynamics, we shed new light onto the fluctuating viability of categories. Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Laszlo Tihanyi for his editorial guidance and to anonymous reviewers for their developmental comments. We also thank Peer Fiss, Xiumei Li, Michael Lounsbury, Thijs Velema, and Eric Zhao for their valuable feedback on earlier versions of this paper.
When seeing a face or hearing a voice, perceivers readily form first impressions of a person's characteristics-are they trustworthy, do they seem aggressive? One of the key claims about trait impressions from faces and voices alike is that these impressions are formed rapidly. For faces, studies have systematically mapped this rapid time course of trait impressions, finding that they are well formed and stable after approximately 100 ms of exposure. For voices, however, no systematic investigation of the time course of trait perception exists. In the current study, listeners provided trait judgments (attractiveness, dominance, trustworthiness) based on recordings of 100 voices that lasted either 50, 100, 200, 400, or 800 ms. Based on measures of intra- and interrater agreement as well as correlations of mean ratings for different exposure conditions, we find that trait perception from voices is indeed rapid. Unlike faces, however, trait impressions from voices require longer exposure to develop and stabilize although they are still formed by 400 ms. Furthermore, differences in the time course of trait perception from voices emerge across traits and voice gender: The formation of impressions of attractiveness and dominance required less exposure when based on male voices, whereas impressions of trustworthiness evolved over a more gradual time course for male and female voices alike. These findings not only provide the first estimate of the time course of the formation of voice trait impressions, but they also have implications for voice perception models where voices are regarded as "auditory faces." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Crowdfunded microfinance provides financial resources to impoverished entrepreneurs across the globe based on online appeals describing the entrepreneur’s values and venture potential and is considered a key player in the ethical finance movement. Despite knowledge that the content of the appeals impacts funding success, little is known regarding the role of religious expression, which is common and consequential in socially-oriented contexts. We leverage role congruity theory to address a theoretical tension concerning the effects of religious expression on crowdfunded microfinance funding outcomes. Religious expression is associated with perceptions of trustworthiness, rule-following, and ethicality—qualities that would suggest an entrepreneur would likely avoid opportunist behavior and repay the loan. However, appeals to a higher power may be incongruent with the role of an entrepreneur to the extent that such expression communicates a lack of proactiveness and self-reliance. We use a two-study design to help resolve this tension. Our field study incorporating 253,130 loans from Kiva reveals that religious expression negatively influences funding, particularly for women. Our experiment using 1,795 individual loan assessments shows that the negative influence of religious expression is attenuated when individual lenders exhibit higher levels of religiosity. Post hoc analysis suggests campaigns can mitigate the negative impact of religious expression by being careful to also include aspects highlighting an entrepreneurial orientation. Overall, our work extends prior research suggesting that language tied to ethical or virtuous behaviors is generally not rewarded by lenders as using such language may make the applicant appear inconsistent with role of a stereotypical entrepreneur.
The voice is often the only continuous channel of expression in pitch videos. We isolate the influence of entrepreneurs' vocal expressions on funding by examining how valence (positivity/negativity) and arousal (activation) shape funders' perceptions of passion and preparedness. We show that an entrepreneur's high-arousal vocal expressions, whether positive or negative, increase perceptions of their passion. Entrepreneurs are perceived as more prepared when the valence and arousal of their vocal expressions are congruent. We test our hypotheses in the context of rewards-based crowdfunding, using both an experiment and a speech affect analysis of real-world crowdfunding pitches.
Crowdfunding provides a new platform to entrepreneurs and small businesses to not only raise external funding but also reach out to the market and receive feedback on product prototypes. Based on a trustworthiness perspective, this study proposes that webpage cues of competence trust and benevolence trust on crowdfunding webpages affect crowdfunding success in terms of the amount of funds raised, number of funders, and amount of feedback received. In addition, benevolence trust lessens the negative effect of discriminatory pricing on crowdfunding success. Our hypotheses are verified through 469 rewards-based crowdfunding projects hosted on a major crowdfunding platform in China. Results show that trustworthiness generally increases crowdfunding success and competence trust has a lower impact than benevolence trust on amount of feedback. Unexpectedly, benevolence trust accentuates, rather than mitigates, the negative effect of discriminatory pricing on crowdfunding success. This study contributes to research on crowdfunding success by widening its scope to include both financial and non-financial aspects, providing a parsimonious framework to theorize success factors, and setting a boundary for the effect of discriminatory pricing.
Based on legitimacy and consumer inference theory, we examine when, how, and why past crowdfunding success influences the perceptions and behaviors of consumers. Across five studies (four controlled experiments and one field experiment), our findings demonstrate that a young venture’s past crowdfunding success enhances consumers’ perceptions of its cognitive legitimacy. This “legitimization effect of crowdfunding success” leads to positive outcomes with respect to purchase intentions, brand attitudes, and consumers’ willingness to recommend young ventures to others. These effects are robust across different product categories. However, our findings also reveal that these positive effects occur exclusively for young ventures, whereas they disappear or even reverse for established ones.
The study of first impressions, which consistently demonstrate meaningful and surprisingly durable impacts on attitudes, behaviors, and cognitions, is pervasive across psychological disciplines. In this integrative conceptual review, we focus on first impressions within the organizational psychology literature, which have been explored across an impressive variety of topical domains (e.g., selection, socialization, leader-subordinate relationships, job performance, and teams) though largely in fragmented ways. Our review attempts to resolve major differences in how researchers have approached first impression effects to build consensus on what first impression effects are, how they occur, and how long they take to develop. In synthesizing this seemingly disparate body of research, we develop an integrative framework of first impression effects comprising four fundamental elements-cues, motives, processes, and outcomes-that must be considered both individually and collectively to understand first impression effects in organizational settings in their entirety. Using this framework, we take stock of the existing literature and identify important through lines, including the focus on displayer- or perceiver-centric effects and whether first impression effects are presumed to be biased or valid. Our fundamental elements framework can be used to systematically catalog and reconcile prior work, as well as develop stronger, more theoretically cohesive studies in the future. We outline major implications for theory and practice on first impressions in the workplace. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
We build upon theory from evolutionary psychology and emotional expression, including basic emotion theory and the dual threshold model of anger in organizations, to extend knowledge about the influence of facial expressions of emotion in entrepreneurial fundraising. First, we conduct a qualitative analysis to understand the objects of entrepreneurs' facial expressions of four basic emotions in their pitches: happiness, anger, fear, and sadness. This provides a base for our theorizing that the frequency of entrepreneurs' facial expression of each of these emotions exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship with funding. We also argue that the frequency of changes in entrepreneurs' facial expressions is positively related to funding. We test our predictions with a sample of 489 funding pitches using computer-aided facial expression analysis. Results support inverted U-shaped relationships of the frequency of facial expression of happiness, anger, and fear with funding, but show a negative relationship of sadness with funding. Results further support that the frequency of change in entrepreneurs' facial expressions promotes funding.
Persuasion success is often related to hard-to-measure characteristics, such as the way the persuader speaks. To examine how vocal tones impact persuasion in an online appeal, this research measures persuaders’ vocal tones in Kickstarter video pitches using novel audio mining technology. Connecting vocal tone dimensions with real-world funding outcomes offers insight into the impact of vocal tones on receivers’ actions. The core hypothesis of this paper is that a successful persuasion attempt is associated with vocal tones denoting (1) focus, (2) low stress, and (3) stable emotions. These three vocal tone dimensions—which are in line with the stereotype content model—matter because they allow receivers to make inferences about a persuader’s competence. The hypotheses are tested with a large-scale empirical study using Kickstarter data, which is then replicated in a different category. In addition, two controlled experiments provide evidence that perceptions of competence mediate the impact of the three vocal tones on persuasion attempt success. The results identify key indicators of persuasion attempt success and suggest a greater role for audio mining in academic consumer research.
Crowdfunding has quickly gained popularity in recent years, providing an additional way for entrepreneurial individuals and organizations (creators) to attract funds for their projects. Scholars have been interested in predicting the success of crowdfunding campaigns, by relating campaign characteristics to the actual success of these campaigns. We take one step back by studying the cognitive processes of the crowd. This paper uses an experimental approach to establish whether participants’ predictions on the success of crowdfunding campaigns based on first impressions are as positive and as accurate as those derived from more thorough analyses. We employ a two-study replication design, in which individuals estimate the success of crowdfunding campaigns in two conditions: with limited time and with unlimited time. The results show that prediction accuracy in both conditions is equal, yet shorter time availability results in assessments that are more negative. We discuss implications for creators and for funders.
Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this study examines differences in the motivation of backers to support cultural and commercial entrepreneurs through reward crowdfunding. We propose that backers of commercial campaigns are a community of early-customers motivated by the prospects of attractive product offerings, while backers of cultural projects constitute a distinct community motivated to support capital-constrained cultural entrepreneurs and connect with like-minded individuals. We use data from the largest German crowdfunding platform, Startnext, and analyze 2334 rewards from 225 cultural and commercial projects. Our results provide support for our hypotheses: Rewards involving price discounts matter particularly for backers of commercial projects and rewards that engage backers with their community matter more for cultural backers. Surprisingly, however, backers of cultural projects are not altruistic; they are no more likely than commercial backers to support campaigns selflessly in response to symbolic rewards.
Investors increasingly use machine learning (ML) algorithms to support their early stage investment decisions. However, it remains unclear if algorithms can make better investment decisions and if so, why. Building on behavioral decision theory, our study compares the investment returns of an algorithm with those of 255 business angels (BAs) investing via an angel investment platform. We explore the influence of human biases and experience on BAs’ returns and find that investors only outperformed the algorithm when they had extensive investment experience and managed to suppress their cognitive biases. These results offer novel insights into the role of cognitive limitations, experience, and the use of algorithms in early stage investing.
Crowdfunding (CF) has experienced impressive growth in recent years with the development of internet and information technologies that increased the participation of the “crowd” to fund entrepreneurial projects. Young entrepreneurs, especially well-qualified students, have recently begun to play a new role in the economy by launching new ventures in niche markets. The aim of the present paper is to provide a deeper understanding of CF among Portuguese young potential entrepreneurs as an alternative funding mechanism, by discussing its main characteristics and the perceived benefits and barriers that might drive young entrepreneurs to post a project on a CF platform or discourage its use. Through an online survey, we query well-qualified students about the knowledge they have about crowdfunding and benefits and barriers that can increase or reduce the possibility of funding to launch a new venture. The results show that potential young entrepreneurs have moderate knowledge about CF. Consequently, they are not able to explore all the business models available, specifically the models related to investment (lending and equity). The respondents perceive several benefits of the use of CF that go beyond the financial advantages, such as the communication of the project to a wider audience and the additional feedback from potential customers. The perceived barriers that could deter the use of CF are related to the implementation of the CF campaign, although contextual constraints have been mentioned.
Crowdfunding has mostly been used to finance very unique projects. Recently, however, companies have begun using it to finance more traditional products where they compete against other sellers of similar products. Major crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter and Indiegogo, as well as Amazon have launched several projects consistent with this trend. This paper offers a model where two competing firms can use crowdfunding prior to direct sales. The model provides several implications that have not yet been tested e.g., (1) Firms can use crowdfunding strategically to signal a high level of demand for their products; (2) (Reward-based) crowdfunding is procyclical; (3) A higher platform fee may lead to higher firm profits in equilibrium; (4) Competition increases the chances of using crowdfunding compared to the monopoly case; (5) A non-monotonic relationship exists between the risk of crowdfunding campaign failure and firm profit.
How do new ventures gain legitimacy and attract critical resources? An increasing body of cultural entrepreneurship research highlights an “optimal distinctiveness” trade-off: new ventures need to be distinctive from their peers to stand out, yet distinctiveness counteracts the attainment of organizational legitimacy. In this paper, we challenge the underlying assumption that distinctiveness necessarily counteracts the attainment of legitimacy and propose that distinctiveness can become a source of legitimacy. This proposition matters because it fundamentally alters the relationship between distinctiveness and resource acquisition from certain audiences. We build on these theoretical arguments to examine new ventures’ resource acquisition from crowdfunders, one of the most important audiences for new ventures. Analysis of 28,425 crowdfunding campaigns across 39 market categories strongly supports our arguments, showing that higher levels of distinctiveness lead to superior crowdfunding performance. We further demonstrate that the legitimating effect of distinctiveness intensifies under the absence of alternative sources of legitimacy. Our study contributes by uncovering a new mechanism and three contingencies for the “optimal distinctiveness” trade-off.
Trust critically affects the perceived probability of receiving expected returns on investment. Crowdfunding differs in many ways from traditional forms of investing. We have to ask what builds trust in this particular context. Based on literature regarding the formation of initial trust, we develop a model to explain which factors lead to crowdfunders’ trust in a crowdfunding project. We test it on data collected from actual investors in a real project on a crowdlending platform. Our results show that trust in the crowdfunding platform and the information quality are more important factors of project trust than trust in the creator.
How does the legitimacy conferred on entrepreneurial endeavors affect the legitimacy of subsequent ones? We extend the notion of a “legitimacy threshold” to develop and test a recursive model of legitimacy. Whereas extant research has focused on whether entrepreneurial endeavors garner sufficient support from key audiences to cross this threshold, we argue that the order of magnitude by which they succeed or fail is consequential for later entrants, too. Distinguishing “blockbuster” from “unsung” successes, and “path breaking” from “broken path” failures, we contend that recent successes and failures affect related subsequent endeavors in predictable, though sometimes counterintuitive ways. We test our hypotheses by examining 182,358 entrepreneurial endeavors pitched within 165 categories over a six-year period on Kickstarter, one of the most important crowdfunding platforms. We show that individual outcomes, taken collectively, generate legitimacy spillovers, either by encouraging audiences to repeatedly support other related endeavors or by discouraging them from doing so. Our research contributes to understanding the recursive nature of legitimacy, the competitive dynamics of entrepreneurial efforts, and crowdfunding platforms.
We investigate how entrepreneurs communicate with crowdfunding backers during the onset of a societal crisis via a content analysis of campaigns active during the COVID-19 pandemic and a vignette experiment. While effective communication with stakeholders is critical for acquiring resources during societal crises, little is known about what communication strategies entrepreneurs use during these crises or their influence on fundraising. Notably, we find that entrepreneurs’ crisis communication strategies differ along three key dimensions: timing (proactive vs. reactive), target (entrepreneur vs. other), and nature (utilitarian vs. personal), and that proactively addressing other stakeholders’ personal concerns attracts more funding than alternative approaches.
Purpose
In the context of rewards-based crowdfunding, this study aims to examine the role of project backers as providers of knowledge inputs beyond just financial capital.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses binomial regression to study the relationship between project creators’ and backers’ knowledge sharing, and the relationship of these two knowledge-sharing elements with achieving above-goal funding levels.
Findings
This study finds that the project creator’s knowledge sharing is significantly and positively related to backers’ knowledge sharing and that this relationship is moderated by the type of project. Furthermore, backers’ knowledge sharing is positively related to above-goal funding outcomes for a project.
Research limitations/implications
This study established the link between creators’ and backers’ knowledge sharing in rewards-based crowdfunding, which has been underexplored in the literature. This study’s direct attention to the role of knowledge as a key resource in rewards-based crowdfunding and crowdsourcing in general.
Practical implications
For entrepreneurs seeking crowdfunding, this study highlights the importance of knowledge sharing with their project backers to attain above-goal funding. Furthermore, eliciting backers’ knowledge input acts as a signaling mechanism that increases the crowd’s confidence in the project. It also endows entrepreneurs with knowledge resources that can improve project outcomes and achieve broader market success postcrowdfunding.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to focus on knowledge content as a critical element in project backer-creator communication in rewards-based crowdfunding. This study also delineate the various knowledge types shared between the project creator and backers in both rewards-based crowdfunding projects.
The psychological attributes of business angels are an important but understudied determinant of business angels’ investment behaviour. We derive hypotheses on how psychological attributes (i.e. clout, risk‐taking, analytical thinking) affect business angels’ investments in successful portfolio ventures. Our theorized mechanisms draw on cognitive biases (i.e. overconfidence bias, loss‐aversion bias, confirmation bias) to explain how business angels’ psychological attributes could affect their selection of portfolio ventures. Empirically, we perform a language‐based text analysis using Twitter data to gain insights into the psychological attributes of 1511 US business angels who made 5209 investments. Our results show that the psychological attributes of clout, risk‐taking and analytical thinking can indeed affect business angels’ likelihood of investing in portfolio ventures that successfully acquire follow‐on funding, highlighting the importance of psychological attributes in business angel investments.
Research Summary
This paper examines how reward‐based crowdfunding backers respond to risk disclosures. Combining theoretical frameworks from financial accounting with the risk perception literature, we adopt an abductive research approach to explore various nuances that influence backers' tolerance for risk information. In addition to identifying the general dynamics in backers' risk interpretation, we highlight the complexities introduced by differences in the disclosure's semantic content, expressed feelings, and the discloser's background attributes. Relying on a hierarchical Bayesian mixture model, we first identify a positive curvilinear relationship between risk information quantity and crowdfunding success. We then demonstrate the influences of what is disclosed, how it is disclosed, and who discloses it, while emphasizing the context‐bound specificities of individual project types.
Managerial Summary
Our study aids entrepreneurs to effectively communicate risks in reward‐based crowdfunding campaigns. We consistently find that entrepreneurs provided substantially less risk information than the optimum amount of information, emphasizing the need for more extensive disclosures. On what to disclose, backers favored information on risks that are consequential to them personally and not those that affect the entrepreneur's project. On how to disclose, expressed feelings had little influence on how much risk information backers preferred. However, who provides the disclosure was crucial, as trust‐enhancing factors increased backers' appetite for risk information. Together, our findings show that, while communicating risks, entrepreneurs should be cognizant that online backers undertake calculative evaluations and have material motivations. Furthermore, our category level results aid entrepreneurs in making practical judgments on context‐specific deviations across project types.
The use of crowdfunding as a funding method has increased considerably over the last decade. However, competition for crowdfunding money is tough, and goal setting is critical for fund seekers. We investigate the impact of initially set stretch goals and the project creators' communication openness on project funding performance. Empirical results based on a large dataset from Kickstarter show that the stretch goals and higher levels of communication openness increase the likelihood of project funding success. Furthermore, communication openness positively moderates the relation between stretch goals and funding success. Moreover, projects with aggressive stretch goals are more likely to succeed if the goals are communicated well. The results provide practical implications for project creators to increase funding performance by communicating openly with the crowd.
Catastrophic events challenge the resilience of society and require entrepreneurs to act proactively. Government COVID-19 responses forced thousands of businesses to close, resulting in a staggering loss of revenue for small businesses. Many small business entrepreneurs turned to crowdfunding to make public funding appeals. Through the lens of the identifiable victim effect, we examine how donations to affected businesses are related to language-based cues of personality traits embedded in appeals. Using the IBM Watson Personality Insights algorithm, we assess charitable appeals for language-based cues that convey entrepreneurs’ Big Five personality traits. We test our model using 6,803 donation-based campaigns between March and May 2020. We further tested how crisis salience influenced prosocial behavior, discovering that donation effects were increased for appeals that highlighted the pandemic’s impact on the business. Our results suggest that language-based cues of personality traits have significant associations with public support when embedded in charitable appeals.
This article examines how verbal authenticity influences person perception. Our work combines human judgments and natural language processing to suggest verbal authenticity is a positive predictor of interpersonal interest (Study 1: 294 dyadic conversations), engagement with speeches (Study 2: 2,655 TED talks), entrepreneurial success (Study 3: 478 Shark Tank pitches), and social media engagements (Studies 4a–c; N = 387,039 Tweets). We find that communicating authenticity is associated with increased interest in and perceived connection to another person, more comments and views for TED talks, receiving a financial investment from investors, and more social media likes and retweets. Our work is among the first to evaluate how authenticity relates to person perception and manifests naturally using verbal data.
Despite the importance of warmth and competence for social evaluation processes, we do not have a clear understanding of their relevance in entrepreneurial resource acquisition contexts. We examine the effects of cursory impressions of 350 Kickstarter crowdfunding entrepreneurs’ warmth and competence on the performance of their campaigns. Drawing from the stereotype content model and expectancy violation theory, we propose and find support for a model in which different forms of trust mediate the relationships between warmth and competence and crowdfunding performance, with the strength of these pathways differing as a function of entrepreneur gender. Specifically, we show that the crowdfunding performance of women entrepreneurs is uniquely benefited by perceptions of competence and the cognition-based trust that ensues, relative to the performance of men entrepreneurs.
Many reward-based crowdfunding platforms encourage entrepreneurs to introduce their projects and make a personal appeal with a video clip. In this study, we investigate the impact of such a pitch video on financing outcomes. Grounded in social perception literature, we propose that effective use of nonverbal cues in a pitch video increases funding success. We coded and analyzed videos of crowdfunding campaigns and found that an entrepreneur could improve the funding outcomes by gazing less, appearing early, and reducing speech hesitations in a pitch video. We also found that smiling has no impact on funding success.
Project funding performance which determines the rise and fall of the crowdfunding platform, is largely governed by the subjective behavior of investors. Leveraging the perspective of attribute substitution theory, we focus on two factors that affect the subjective funding behaviors of investors: emotional language in the project description and risky funding choices of prior investors. According to the same theory, we classify the projects as either hedonic or utilitarian, identifying whether the association between the factors and funding success of projects vary for hedonic vs. utilitarian projects. Using Kickstarter data, our analysis shows a positive association between the risk-seeking investor ratio and project success for hedonic projects. In addition, it identifies a positive association between the extent to which arousal words are used in project descriptions and project success for all projects. Thus, both positive associations are stronger for hedonic projects than for utilitarian projects. Our findings suggest that investors in crowdfunding contexts do not always make rational decisions in funding projects. This has implications for how a project is positioned within the crowdfunding solicitation marketplace.
Crowdfunding has emerged as an alternative means of financing new ventures wherein a large number of individuals collectively back a project. This research specifically looks at reward-based crowdfunding, where those who take part in the crowdfunding process receive the new product for which funding is sought in return for their financial support. This work illustrates that consumers make fundamentally different decisions when considering contributing their money to crowdfund versus purchase a product. Six studies demonstrate that compared to a traditional purchase, crowdfunding more strongly activates an interdependent mindset and, as a result, increases consumer demand for social-good products (i.e., products with positive social and/or environmental impact). The research further highlights that an active involvement in the crowdfunding process is necessary to increase demand for social-good products: When a previously crowdfunded product is already to market, the effect is eliminated. Finally, it is demonstrated that crowdfunding participants exhibit an increased demand for social-good products only when collective efficacy (i.e., one’s belief in the collective’s ability to bring about change) is high.
In reward-based crowdfunding, creators of entrepreneurial projects solicit capital from potential consumers to reach a funding goal and offer future products/services in return. The authors examine consumers’ contribution patterns using a novel data set of 28,591 projects collected at 30-minute resolution from Kickstarter. Extending prior research that assumes that economic considerations (e.g., project quality, campaign success likelihood) drive backers’ decisions, the authors provide the cleanest field evidence so far that consumers also have prosocial motives to help creators reach their funding goals. They find that projects collect funding faster right before (vs. right after) meeting their funding goals because consumers not only are more likely to fund projects but also contribute greater amounts of money prior to goal attainment. This effect is amplified when the nature of a project tends to evoke consumers’ prosocial motivation and when a project’s creator is a single person. These results suggest that consumers’ prosocial motives not only play a role in reward-based crowdfunding but also can outweigh the opposing effects of economic factors including rational herding and certainty about campaign success.
This study examines whether and how entrepreneurs' facial trustworthiness is associated with the success of their crowdfunding campaigns. We adopt a novel dataset extracted from the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform and employ machine learning-based facial detection techniques to construct a comprehensive index that measures facial trustworthiness for our investigation. Our results suggest that entrepreneurs' facial trustworthiness is positively associated with crowdfunding campaign success. Specifically, trustworthy-looking entrepreneurs receive a 13.1% greater pledge amount and attract 4.8% more backers in their crowdfunding campaign as compared to those who are untrustworthy-looking. We also find that the facial trustworthiness of female entrepreneurs plays a more prominent role in determining project success than that of male entrepreneurs. Our results are robust to a series of additional analyses and sensitivity checks. Overall, the results of our study suggest that entrepreneurs' facial trustworthiness is an important factor that affects funders' decision-making process in reward-based crowdfunding.
Purpose
This paper explores knowledge sharing (KS) and intellectual capital (IC) impacts on the success rate of equity crowdfunding (EC) campaigns in the Italian market, which represents a new model for financing entrepreneurial initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
The relation between KS, IC and the success rate of EC campaigns is analysed with a panel regression that measures IC through the value added intellectual coefficient. Social network analysis is used to measure KS in the users' network on Twitter for EC campaigning. Specifically, the authors consider the information users exchange on social networks as a proxy of KS and identify the hubs influencing information dissemination, the size and strength of networks for each EC campaign. Finally, the success rate of EC campaigns is a ratio of the number of positive campaigns to the total number of campaigns for each platform.
Findings
The success rate of EC campaigns is positively related to IC and significantly and positively related to the number of connections the EC platforms have.
Practical implications
The positive relationship between the hub role of social network platforms and the success of EC campaigns provides an important signal to crowdfunding operators. As more potential investors focus on an EC campaign, a bandwagon effect could involve uninformed investors. This result is crucial in order to better understand how social media activity affects crowdfunding success.
Originality/value
Although the literature has examined the impact of KS on general firm performance and the mediating role of intellectual capital, no prior studies have examined the impacts of KS and IC on the success rate of EC campaigns in a specific market.
Backers assess a crowdfunding campaign description not merely for a project’s capacity to deliver a reward, but also for the manner in which that reward is delivered. Viewed through the lens of signalling theory, crowdfunding performance depends on the signals of behavioural orientations. While earlier research has explored the positive and negative effects of signals of behavioural orientation, signal intensity merits exploration. We explored signal intensity among 48,628 reward-based crowdfunding campaigns and focused on entrepreneurial orientation to categorize signals of behavioural orientations. We show that signals of autonomy, innovativeness, competitive aggressiveness, and risk-taking have an inverted-U-shaped relationship with crowdfunding performance. Signals of proactiveness have a positive non-monotonic relationship with crowdfunding performance.
This study examines how entrepreneurial orientation (EO) works through firm managers’ perceived contribution of social media (CSM) and influences crowdfunding success in the context of pre-existing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). As a construct, EO has evolved over the last three decades. We build on recent conceptualizations where it is posited as a behavioral construct that motivates directed actions. We propose that EO fosters actions and routines that predict crowdfunding campaign success, and that this relationship is mediated by the perceived contribution of social media to a firm's campaign success. To test these assertions, we surveyed professionals from 322 firms who had conducted crowdfunding campaigns. We created and validated our own 7-item scale for crowdfunding success where we used pre-existing scales for EO and CSM to test our assertions. We found that the CSM mediates the relationship between EO and crowdfunding success (CFS). These findings contribute to the literature on strategic entrepreneurship, innovation, and media strategy.
Purpose
The transition from industrial to social economy and from knowledge produces a paradigm shift, which is the space in which new professions, new values and even new forms of financing are shaped. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon of crowdfunding, and the specific focus is the small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) dimension, typical in startups firms. This work discusses the main thematic areas in the scientific literature on the phenomenon of crowdfunding ( RQ1 ) and how is crowdfunding treated in SMEs’ dimension ( RQ2 ).
Design/methodology/approach
To analyze the literature, this study uses structure literature review methodology. To answer RQ1 , the articles in the SCOPUS database on the theme of crowdfunding were surveyed. To RQ2 , the analysis focused on the combined theme between the crowdfunding phenomenon and the SMEs’ dimension.
Findings
The study shows that from the scientific point of view, the treatment of the crowdfunding phenomenon is strongly developing in many research areas. The most recurrent are those that deal with studies linked to socio-geographical and institutional contexts and those that analyze individual behavior of investors and crowd funders. Residual area remains the one dedicated to SMEs, where this research has led to poor results.
Originality/value
This paper implements the studies on crowdfunding, a phenomenon that is rapidly expanding worldwide. Particular attention is paid to startup firms, and the business dimension was studied for SMEs, for which it was initially conceived and investigated. Future work will try to apply the results of this research into a case study about an Italian startup firm.
This study investigates how website design features, web page order and visual complexity, influence users’ initial website aesthetic impressions and how such impressions subsequently enhance engagement and intention to use the website. A laboratory experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses using different levels of web page order (high vs. low), visual complexity (high vs. low), and exposure time (one-second vs. no-time-constraint). Overall, the results from structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis suggest that web page order significantly influences visual appeal, engagement, and intention. In addition, the results of multigroup SEM analysis reveal that users evaluate website design very quickly (within 1 s), and that these evaluations remain remarkably consistent over time.
Full text available here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883902618301484
Abstract: Visual cues are pervasive on crowdfunding platforms. However, whether and how low validity visual cues can impact the behavior of backers remains largely unknown. In this article, we propose a disfluency-based heuristic framework for understanding the influence of low validity visual cues on equity crowdfunding platforms. Drawing on processing fluency theory and visual heuristics, we propose that backers often automatically process visual cues, and that the subjective experience of ease/difficulty with which backers perceptually process low validity visual cues serves as a heuristic and informs their perceptions of early-stage entrepreneurial ventures. We test our propositions focusing on logos (low validity visual cues that are particularly salient and ubiquitous on equity crowdfunding platforms) and logo complexity (a fundamental characteristic of logo design and established antecedent of processing disfluency). We contend that logo complexity can be interpreted by backers as a signal of venture innovativeness because more (vs. less) complex logos are more difficult to process, and thus, feel less familiar and more unique, original, and novel to backers. Since backers often value innovativeness, we further contend that logo complexity can positively impact backers' funding decisions. We find support for our framework and propositions using a multimethod approach comprising three studies: one survey, one field study, and one experiment. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are also discussed.
