Does personality still matter in e-commerce? How perceived hubris influences the assessment of founders’ trustworthiness using the example of reward-based crowdfunding

Reward-based crowdfunding broadens the scope of e-commerce transactions, as prototypical products are pre-sold under conditions of considerable uncertainty. To date, we know little about the mechanisms that underlie decisions to back reward-based crowdfunding campaigns. However, it is likely that startup founders’ possibility of showcasing their personalities in video pitches signals their trustworthiness, particularly, as other features, such as quality seals and customer testimonials, are often unavailable. We use signaling theory to reinforce the move from a feature-oriented perspective to a signaling perspective, as signals can transmit information about startup founders’ otherwise imperceptible qualities and abilities. Based on a survey (N = 108), we investigate how perceived hubris – proven to be particularly salient in startup contexts – influences the funding decision of potential backers. We find that abilities and legitimacy of a startup founder are rated positively when s/he is perceived as hubristic. These results have implications for crowdfunding campaigns and highlight the relevance of personality traits in electronic markets

Does Personality Still Matter in Our Digitalized World? The Relevance of Hubris and Charisma for Crowdfunding Success

Entrepreneurs often exhibit personality traits associated with hubris and charisma but little is known how potential investors reflect these traits. We contribute to the existing research on crowdfunding in IS literature by examining how personality trai

Does personality still matter in our digitalized world? The relevance of hubris and charisma for crowdfunding success

Entrepreneurs often exhibit personality traits associated with hubris and charisma but little is known how potential investors reflect these traits. We contribute to the existing research on crowdfunding in IS literature by examining how personality traits associated with hubris and charisma influence the success of crowdfunding campaigns. To that end, we build upon the dual-process theory in order to explain how perceived traits influence investment decisions of non-professional investors. For this purpose, we collaborated with a professional actor and recorded video pitches expressing different entrepreneurial personality traits. A true experiment was conducted suggesting that both hubristic and charismatic personalities are more successful in sourcing capital than entrepreneurs without such personalities. Additionally, we derive a holistic model to explain the underlying mechanics using Structural Equation Modelling. The results suggest that personality traits in relation to hubris and charisma influence the perceived trustworthiness and passion that intuitively drive crowdfunding decisions. © International Conference on Information Systems 2018, ICIS 2018.All rights reserved