An Exploratory Study of Creating Persuasive and Effective Blurbs in Reward-Based Crowdfunding (RBCF)

Crowdfunding is an alternative financing for funding innovative businesses. Research shows that reward-based crowdfunding (RBCF) is increasingly pivotal for raising project capital, given the current Covid-19 climate where conventional funding is scarce. The project blurbs are essential to attract funds. However, little has been done in studying the project blurb and how it impacts the campaign’s outcomes. Therefore, this paper aims to explore unique words for creating persuasive and effective blurbs that increase RBCF project success by studying their sentiments. This research collects Kickstarter data from June 2019 to June 2020. Descriptive, sentiment and word analyses are incorporated. This triangulation contributes to a practical guideline in creating effective project blurbs. The descriptive analysis offers contexts such as length and time. Sentiment analysis informs positive sentiments spread across successful and failed projects, requiring word analysis to determine the unique words used in writing persuasive and effective blurb to increase project success

Стратегія покращення краудфандингових інвестицій у стартап-бізнес

Purpose: This research was conducted to analyze the extent to which online customer reviews (OCRs) can stimulate investment backers as a strategy to increase crowdfunding investment. Design / Method / Approach: This research is quantitative. Natural language processing (NLP) processes review text documents based on linguistic study, a lexicon-based method is used for sentiment analysis classification based on polarity score (pros and cons), while Multiple linear regression forms a model or relationship between online customer reviews and crowdfunding investments. OCRs consisting of numeric and text features were collected from one hundred technology products (3D printing, drones, cameras, wearables) on Kickstarter.com. Findings: The study results show that, in addition to positive reviews, the number of comments and the number of sentiment reviews can increase consumer interest in investing in technology products on the crowdfunding platform. Moreover, positive reviews have the most positive effect on crowdfunding investments. Practical Implications: The study results are expected to be used for startup business, especially technology products as a strategy to increase funding investment on a reward-based crowdfunding platform. Startups can take advantage of online customer reviews as one of important factors in stimulating potential backers and backers to invest. Social implications: The strategy of utilizing online customer reviews can be used especially for technology product-based startup business to get funding support as a resource in completing a product development stage. Originality / Value: The novelty of this research is that it focuses on a technological product development stage, product campaigns on a reward-based crowdfunding platform, considering online customer reviews through sentimental (online reviews) and numerical characteristics (number of comments, number of sentiment reviews) simultaneously as a strategy to increase investment. Research Limitations / Future Research: This study has some limitations as it used only online customer reviews as an attribute that affects crowdfunding investment. Future research is expected to explore online customer reviews to determine important attributes (unique words) as consideration for strategies to increase crowdfunding investment. Paper type: EmpiricalPurpose: This research was conducted to analyze the extent to which online customer reviews (OCRs) can stimulate investment backers as a strategy to increase crowdfunding investment. Design / Method / Approach: This research is quantitative. Natural language processing (NLP) processes review text documents based on linguistic study, a lexicon-based method is used for sentiment analysis classification based on polarity score (pros and cons), while Multiple linear regression forms a model or relationship between online customer reviews and crowdfunding investments. OCRs consisting of numeric and text features were collected from one hundred technology products (3D printing, drones, cameras, wearables) on Kickstarter.com. Findings: The study results show that, in addition to positive reviews, the number of comments and the number of sentiment reviews can increase consumer interest in investing in technology products on the crowdfunding platform. Moreover, positive reviews have the most positive effect on crowdfunding investments. Practical Implications: The study results are expected to be used for startup business, especially technology products as a strategy to increase funding investment on a reward-based crowdfunding platform. Startups can take advantage of online customer reviews as one of important factors in stimulating potential backers and backers to invest. Social implications: The strategy of utilizing online customer reviews can be used especially for technology product-based startup business to get funding support as a resource in completing a product development stage. Originality / Value: The novelty of this research is that it focuses on a technological product development stage, product campaigns on a reward-based crowdfunding platform, considering online customer reviews through sentimental (online reviews) and numerical characteristics (number of comments, number of sentiment reviews) simultaneously as a strategy to increase investment. Research Limitations / Future Research: This study has some limitations as it used only online customer reviews as an attribute that affects crowdfunding investment. Future research is expected to explore online customer reviews to determine important attributes (unique words) as consideration for strategies to increase crowdfunding investment. Paper type: EmpiricalМета роботи: Це дослідження було проведено, щоб проаналізувати, наскільки онлайн-огляди клієнтів (OCRs) можуть стимулювати спонсорів інвестицій як стратегію збільшення інвестицій у краудфандинг. Дизайн / Метод / Підхід дослідження: Це дослідження є кількісним. Процеси обробки природної мови (NLP) переглядають текстові документи на основі лінгвістичного дослідження, метод на основі лексики використовується для класифікації настроїв на основі оцінки полярності (за і проти), тоді як множинна лінійна регресія формує модель або зв’язок між відгуками клієнтів в Інтернеті та краудфандинговими інвестиціями. OCRs, що складаються з числових і текстових функцій, були зібрані зі ста технологічних продуктів (3D-друк, дрони, камери, носії) на Kickstarter.com. Результати дослідження: Результати дослідження показують, що, крім позитивних відгуків, кількість коментарів і кількість відгуків про настрої можуть підвищити інтерес споживачів до інвестування в технологічні продукти на платформі краудфандингу. Більше того, позитивні відгуки найбільш позитивно впливають на краудфандингові інвестиції. Практична цінність дослідження: Очікується, що результати дослідження будуть використані для стартап-бізнесу, особливо технологічних продуктів, як стратегії збільшення інвестицій у фінансування на краудфандинговій платформі, заснованій на винагородах. Стартапи можуть скористатися перевагами онлайн-оглядів клієнтів як одним із важливих факторів стимулювання потенційних спонсорів і спонсорів, вже готових інвестувати. Соціальна цінність дослідження: Стратегія використання онлайн-відгуків клієнтів може бути використана особливо для запуску бізнесу на основі технологічних продуктів, щоб отримати фінансову підтримку як ресурс для завершення етапу розробки продукту. Оригінальність / Цінність дослідження: Новизна цього дослідження полягає в тому, що воно зосереджується на етапі розробки технологічного продукту, продуктових кампаніях на краудфандинговій платформі, заснованій на винагородах, враховуючи онлайн-відгуки клієнтів через сентиментальні (огляди в Інтернеті) та числові характеристики (кількість коментарів, кількість оцінки настроїв) одночасно як стратегія збільшення інвестицій. Обмеження дослідження / Майбутні дослідження: У цьому дослідженні є деякі обмеження, оскільки було використано лише онлайнові відгуки клієнтів як атрибут, який впливає на інвестиції в краудфандинг. Очікується, що майбутні дослідження будуть вивчати відгуки клієнтів в Інтернеті, щоб визначити важливі атрибути (унікальні слова) для розгляду стратегій збільшення інвестицій у краудфандинг. Тип статті: Емпіричний&nbsp

A Rollercoaster of Emotions – A Semantic Analysis of Fundraising Campaigns over the Course of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Donation-based crowdfunding platforms are increasingly important for those in need, especially in times of crisis. When fundraisers face financial difficulties in addition to the original challenges underpinning their appeal, we can expect to find highly emotional textual descriptions in charitable crowdfunding campaigns. On top of any existing challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic has induced feelings of helplessness and uncertainty. Hence, we pose the question of whether, and to what extent, this pandemic has influenced the topics of donation campaigns and the emotionality expressed in them. Conducting an exploratory analysis on a dataset from GoFundMe, we combine a quantitative approach of dictionary-based sentiment analysis with exploratory topic modeling. Key findings indicate that negative emotions (i.e., negatively associated words) in the campaign descriptions have increased sharply at the onset of the pandemic, and that the topics of pandemic-related campaigns have spread from health to other aspects of life, such as personal difficulties

The Influence of Campaign Presentation Cues on Crowdfunding Performance – Reviewing the Empirical Reward-Based Crowdfunding Literature

Background: Reward-based crowdfunding (RBCF) is an established funding mechanism for entrepreneurs, in which they present their ideas through campaign presentations to persuade backers. Compared to investors, who focus more on the merits of the information presented, crowdfunding backers pay attention to cues such as the entrepreneurs’ characteristics and the appeal of the campaign. Accordingly, researchers investigated cues, i.e., snippets of information embedded within different communication modalities that facilitate the interpretation of the campaign and entrepreneur. Thus, knowledge of how cues affect decision-making and funding performance has become important for researchers and practitioners. However, current research often investigated cues in isolation that are fragmented across literature and does not provide a straightforward understanding of how cues embedded in campaign presentations affect funding performance. Method: This review synthesizes past RBCF literature to provide a comprehensive concept-centric categorization of how cues affect funding performance. Results: The review analyzed 71 articles and identified three main research topics, namely “communication strategies”, “perceived entrepreneurs\u27 characteristics”, and “appeal to emotions”. The review developed 14 corresponding concept-centric sub-categories of cues and reported their effects on funding performance (significant negative, non-significant, significant positive, inverted U-shaped). Vote-counting shows that some sub-categories tend to have overall positive or negative effects, with first indications of an often-neglected inverted U-shape effect. Yet, the effect’s direction is not straightforward for all sub-categories. Also, further research is necessary to explore what specific combinations of cues moderate, complement, or substitute for each other’s effects, including non-linear assumptions. Also, there is room to investigate fruitful, not yet analyzed, cues and theoretical lenses. Conclusion: This review contributes to the RBCF literature by providing detailed insights into the effects of cues embedded within the campaign presentation on funding performance. Such a better understanding can benefit all involved parties

The devil is in the details: The effect of nonverbal cues on crowdfunding success

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

The Role of Reward-Based Crowdfunding in Farm Financing: What Characterises Successful Campaign?

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the role of reward-based crowdfunding in farm financing, with a focus on its likelihood of success. The study uses a sample of 1,566 projects from the Kickstarter platform between 2014 and 2020. We added the level of urbanisation and relative importance of agriculture in the country’s economy to the basic elements to assess the importance of the crowdfunding. We run a logistic regression model to investigate factors that motivate investment decisions. We discovered a statistically significant negative correlation between the self-set campaign goal and project success, as well as a small positive impact of number of backers and a positive impact of the importance of agriculture in the country’s economy on crowdfunding success. In an era of rapid innovation and the rise of social networks, this paper contributes to the current literature on the agri-food industry’s reword-based crowdfunding approach

Determining key drivers of crowdfunding success and exploring the social nature of crowdfunding

Initially seen as a way for individuals to raise money for causes or projects through the collective effort of friends and family, crowdfunding provides start-ups the opportunity to bypass traditional financing methods, and instead raise capital for their venture from customers and investors. Unlike traditional investing, crowdfunding success relies on a large number of individuals giving small amounts of money. This means crowdfunding campaigns are constantly looking to increase their chances of success, and stand out from other campaigns. In order to do this, crowdfunding campaigns are increasingly using social media to convey their message and project across to potential backers. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to identify key drivers that impact crowdfunding success and explore the social nature of crowdfunding. This thesis was initiated by a literature review that examined factors that impact the success of crowdfunding campaigns. While providing a comprehensive background on the determinants of success, this study also illustrates several potential avenues for future research. First, it highlights the lack of research surrounding discussion around the campaign outside of the crowdfunding platform, particularly with equity crowdfunding. This study also shows the need for more research exploring how successful campaigns were after the crowdfunding campaign. After this literature review, the first quantitative study analyses how campaigns use social media to communicate with the crowd outside of the crowdfunding platform. Findings show that engagement with the crowd on social media positively impacted the success of crowdfunding campaigns. This study also suggests that, while within-platform information sharing influences the overall funding, it is the multi-platform information sharing across social media that allows fundraising to exceed initial targets and tap into different social bonding behaviours (hedonic funding). Building on research into social media and equity crowdfunding, the third study examines rewards-based crowdfunding, analysing how the fundraiser’s social network changes over the course of the campaign. Findings from this paper show that the strength and breadth of the social network can impact whether the campaign reaches its funding goal. The final study explores the second gap found in the literature; the lack of research surrounding the success of crowdfunding campaigns post-fundraising. This research paper examines the impact a crowdfunding campaign has on public sentiment, analysing how sentiment changes in the six months after the campaign. This thesis has implications for theory, practice, and future research. First, I provide a novel perspective on crowdfunding success, showing it is not only reaching a funding target, but should be measured across different stages of the campaign. This thesis also introduces the idea that crowdfunding is a social collaboration. Through unique analysis of these campaigns and backers, along with the relationship between social media and crowdfunding, I find several factors that influence the success of campaigns. Finally, this thesis also highlights a number of interdependencies that exist, which can also impact the success of campaigns. These findings and implications are discussed at length in the final chapter

Social Media Strategies that Lead to Success in the Film Industry

Social media influence is important to movie industry leaders as it directly affects film revenues. The problem is that independent film managers often fail to increase revenues due to limited resources and a lack of social media marketing strategies. Grounded in the conceptual framework of social media marketing management (SMMM), this multiple case study was an exploration of the social media strategies used by independent film managers to increase film revenues. Participants were 10 U.S.-based independent film managers who successfully leveraged social media strategies in the film industry. Data were collected using semistructured interviews, publicly available documentation, data found on websites, and social media. Through thematic analysis, three themes emerged including social media platforms as related to target audiences, social media marketing tactics, and use of other platforms, services, and media. Independent film managers should first understand their audiences and the nuances around the social media platforms their audiences use. A key recommendation is social media platform optimization as related to target audience. Implications for positive social change include audience empowerment, inspiration, and knowledge. Film content that addresses social causes and issues can influence activism for social good, widespread conversation, public awareness, funding of programs, and changing of laws that benefit those adversely affected

Dynamics in Platform Ecosystems

Platform business models are gaining rapid traction in today’s world. As of 2016, the four most valuable companies—Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft—have been using this business model. So do some of the most promising start-ups, including Uber and AirBnB. These providers of multi-sided platforms have a common goal, which is to match producers and consumers in order to create value through their interactions. The evolving ecosystems around a platform business are characterized by network effects among the groups of stakeholders, as each market side is influenced by the other side of the platform. A goal of the platform owner is to create and exploit as many monetization opportunities as possible. As the main revenue source, usually, is based on the interactions on or access to the platform, managing the demand and the supply side is at the core of platform management. One example of an uprising area of business that leverages a platform business model is crowdfunding platforms. These multi-sided markets try to facilitate the interaction of individuals who seek funding for a specific project, with a crowd of people that is willing to invest in the idea. The idea behind the model has been around for a long time, but due to reduced transaction cost is now available on a global scale. As of November 2016, Kickstarter, one of the most famous players in the business of reward-based crowdfunding, has already raised 2.7 billion USD in total pledges and has funded over 114,000 projects. This dissertation tries to shed light on the dynamics that are at work in a platform ecosystem by investigating distinct behaviors of platform participants and observing the impact on other stakeholders and the platform ecosystem as a whole. Each of the papers included in this dissertation focuses on a certain participant or dynamic of the platform ecosystem. With the first article, the theoretical basis of asymmetric information between consumers and producers in a crowdfunding environment is established. Furthermore, it shows that the opinion expressed in the form of electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) and the observable popularity information (e.g. decision-making of other participants) serve as credible quality signals, subsequently influencing consumers’ decision-making. Also, popularity information and eWOM differ significantly in terms of effectiveness over time. Both factors, eWOM and popularity information, can therefore be seen as means to reduce information asymmetries in platform ecosystems. Since the importance of popularity information and eWOM is known to producers, an incentive to manipulate these performance indicators can be deducted. We therefore suspected that producers might establish non-genuine indicators of eWOM or popularity information. Article 2 then identifies a manipulation strategy of project creators on Kickstarter, who illegally alter the number of Facebook Shares their campaign supposedly has. After identifying the fraudulent campaigns, we were able to observe the resulting effects of non-genuine social information on consumer decision-making over time, showing that a short-term gain can be achieved, whereas the total effect is indeed harmful to the campaign. Contrary to the deliberately fake social information sent by the producers, the third article then concerns non-explicit campaign characteristics in the form of personality traits of producers. Here we were able to extract the Big Five personality traits of a project creator from the campaign description and the included video and to analyze their effectiveness for influencing potential consumers. The influence was measured by means of project adoption by the crowd and diffusion on Facebook. Finally, article 4 investigates a governance decision made by the platform provider. Under the condition of a natural experiment, we were able to observe and analyze how a policy change by the platform owner with regard to their gatekeeping strategy can influence a platform ecosystem as a whole, as well as certain participants in particular. The policy change, made by Kickstarter in 2014, lowered the barrier for entering the platform for pro-ject creators, resulting in a shift in average quality, number of projects and platform revenue. Implications for future research and practice are discussed in depth for each article and summarized in the final chapter

A study on the potential of reward-based crowdfunding in supporting sustainable entrepreneurship

The dissertation sets out to explore the often ignored role of the consumer (end-user) within sustainable innovation by examining the potential of reward-based crowdfunding in enabling sustainable entrepreneurship. It explores under which conditions and to what extent rewardbased crowdfunding could benefit entrepreneurs with social and/or environmentally-oriented products. The dissertation employs four articles in order to explore this. The first sets the stage by systematically reviewing the various roles that end-users can adopt within sustainable innovation process. The second serves to present a conceptual understanding of how the process of crowdfunding is organized. Finally papers three and four respectively present the dissertation’s empirical evidence. Paper three focuses on uncovering the distributive qualities of reward-based crowdfunding in terms of its ability to increase innovation finance access, while paper four introduces the experimental evidence on the role of individual and product details in shaping pledging behavior as it relates to a diversity of (un)sustainable campaigns