IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiapa/v40y2023i2d10.1007_s10490-021-09801-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Success of Crowdfunding: A Trustworthiness Perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Steven S. Lui

    (UNSW Sydney)

  • Zhijing Zhu

    (Nottingham University Business School China, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China)

  • Jinjing Liu

    (Global Lifecycle Management)

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven S. Lui & Zhijing Zhu & Jinjing Liu, 2023. "Success of Crowdfunding: A Trustworthiness Perspective," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 681-706, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:40:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s10490-021-09801-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-021-09801-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10490-021-09801-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10490-021-09801-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Allison, Thomas H. & Davis, Blakley C. & Webb, Justin W. & Short, Jeremy C., 2017. "Persuasion in crowdfunding: An elaboration likelihood model of crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 707-725.
    2. Massimo G. Colombo & Chiara Franzoni & Cristina Rossi–Lamastra, 2015. "Internal Social Capital and the Attraction of Early Contributions in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(1), pages 75-100, January.
    3. Jörn Block & Lars Hornuf & Alexandra Moritz, 2018. "Which updates during an equity crowdfunding campaign increase crowd participation?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 3-27, January.
    4. David Ahlstrom & Garry D. Bruton, 2006. "Venture Capital in Emerging Economies: Networks and Institutional Change," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 30(2), pages 299-320, March.
    5. Bender, Mark & Gal-Or, Esther & Geylani, Tansev, 2019. "Crowdfunding As a Vehicle for Raising Capital and for Price Discrimination," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-19.
    6. Lagazio, Corrado & Querci, Francesca, 2018. "Exploring the multi-sided nature of crowdfunding campaign success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 318-324.
    7. Gilles Chemla & Katrin Tinn, 2020. "Learning Through Crowdfunding," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(5), pages 1783-1801, May.
    8. Jermain C. Kaminski & Christian Hopp, 2020. "Predicting outcomes in crowdfunding campaigns with textual, visual, and linguistic signals," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 627-649, October.
    9. Malc, Domen & Mumel, Damijan & Pisnik, Aleksandra, 2016. "Exploring price fairness perceptions and their influence on consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3693-3697.
    10. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    11. Bi, Sheng & Liu, Zhiying & Usman, Khalid, 2017. "The influence of online information on investing decisions of reward-based crowdfunding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 10-18.
    12. APJM Editorial Team, 2020. "Making contributions beyond theory-based studies: From the APJM editorial team," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 1-6, March.
    13. Calic, Goran & Shevchenko, Anton, 2020. "How signal intensity of behavioral orientations affects crowdfunding performance: The role of entrepreneurial orientation in crowdfunding business ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 204-220.
    14. Ming Hu & Xi Li & Mengze Shi, 2015. "Product and Pricing Decisions in Crowdfunding," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 34(3), pages 331-345, May.
    15. Simon Kleinert & Christine Volkmann & Marc Grünhagen, 2020. "Third-party signals in equity crowdfunding: the role of prior financing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 341-365, January.
    16. Garry D. Bruton & David Ahlstrom & Juanyi Chen, 2021. "China has emerged as an aspirant economy," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 1-15, March.
    17. Gefen, David, 2000. "E-commerce: the role of familiarity and trust," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 725-737, December.
    18. Zhang, Haisu & Chen, Weizhi, 2019. "Crowdfunding technological innovations: Interaction between consumer benefits and rewards," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 84, pages 11-20.
    19. Fassnacht, Martin & Unterhuber, Sebastian, 2016. "Consumer response to online/offline price differentiation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 137-148.
    20. Kelly L. Haws & William O. Bearden, 2006. "Dynamic Pricing and Consumer Fairness Perceptions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(3), pages 304-311, October.
    21. Hsu, David H., 2007. "Experienced entrepreneurial founders, organizational capital, and venture capital funding," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 722-741, June.
    22. Jeremy C. Short & David J. Ketchen Jr. & Aaron F. McKenny & Thomas H. Allison & R. Duane Ireland, 2017. "Research on Crowdfunding: Reviewing the (Very Recent) past and Celebrating the Present," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 149-160, March.
    23. Scott Shane & Daniel Cable, 2002. "Network Ties, Reputation, and the Financing of New Ventures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(3), pages 364-381, March.
    24. Benedicktus, Ray L. & Brady, Michael K. & Darke, Peter R. & Voorhees, Clay M., 2010. "Conveying Trustworthiness to Online Consumers: Reactions to Consensus, Physical Store Presence, Brand Familiarity, and Generalized Suspicion," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 86(4), pages 322-335.
    25. Viotto da Cruz, Jordana, 2018. "Beyond financing: crowdfunding as an informational mechanism," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 371-393.
    26. C. S. Richard Chan & Annaleena Parhankangas, 2017. "Crowdfunding Innovative Ideas: How Incremental and Radical Innovativeness Influence Funding Outcomes," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 237-263, March.
    27. Gordon Burtch & Anindya Ghose & Sunil Wattal, 2013. "An Empirical Examination of the Antecedents and Consequences of Contribution Patterns in Crowd-Funded Markets," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 499-519, September.
    28. Zvilichovsky, David & Danziger, Shai & Steinhart, Yael, 2018. "Making-the-Product-Happen: A Driver of Crowdfunding Participation," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 81-93.
    29. D. Harrison McKnight & Vivek Choudhury & Charles Kacmar, 2002. "Developing and Validating Trust Measures for e-Commerce: An Integrative Typology," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 13(3), pages 334-359, September.
    30. Avimanyu (avi) Datta & Arvin Sahaym & Stoney Brooks, 2019. "Unpacking the Antecedents of Crowdfunding Campaign’s Success: The Effects of Social Media and Innovation Orientation," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(S2), pages 462-488, November.
    31. Yadong Luo, 2008. "Procedural fairness and interfirm cooperation in strategic alliances," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 27-46, January.
    32. Anglin, Aaron H. & Short, Jeremy C. & Drover, Will & Stevenson, Regan M. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Allison, Thomas H., 2018. "The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 470-492.
    33. Urban, Glen L. & Amyx, Cinda & Lorenzon, Antonio, 2009. "Online Trust: State of the Art, New Frontiers, and Research Potential," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 179-190.
    34. Garbarino, Ellen & Maxwell, Sarah, 2010. "Consumer response to norm-breaking pricing events in e-commerce," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(9-10), pages 1066-1072, September.
    35. Christopher Courtney & Supradeep Dutta & Yong Li, 2017. "Resolving Information Asymmetry: Signaling, Endorsement, and Crowdfunding Success," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 265-290, March.
    36. Manning, Willard G. & Mullahy, John, 2001. "Estimating log models: to transform or not to transform?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 461-494, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Felipe, Israel José dos Santos & Mendes-Da-Silva, Wesley & Leal, Cristiana Cerqueira & Braun Santos, Danilo, 2022. "Reward crowdfunding campaigns: Time-to-success analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 214-228.
    2. Zhu, Zujun & Huang, Qian & Liu, Hefu, 2023. "How heuristic cues impact crowdfunding performance: The moderating role of platform competition intensity and platform demand potential," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    3. Roma, Paolo & Vasi, Maria & Kolympiris, Christos, 2021. "On the signaling effect of reward-based crowdfunding: (When) do later stage venture capitalists rely more on the crowd than their peers?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).
    4. Xu, Yang & Zhou, Qiang & Wang, Xu, 2023. "Joint price and quality optimization strategy in crowdfunding campaign," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 263(C).
    5. Tajvarpour, Mohammad Hossein & Pujari, Devashish, 2022. "The influence of narrative description on the success of crowdfunding campaigns: The moderating role of quality signals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 123-138.
    6. Xiaobei Liang & Xiaojuan Hu & Jiang Jiang, 2020. "Research on the Effects of Information Description on Crowdfunding Success within a Sustainable Economy—The Perspective of Information Communication," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-36, January.
    7. Veronica Crescenzo & Angelo Bonfanti & Paola Castellani & Alfonso Vargas-Sánchez, 2022. "Effective entrepreneurial narrative design in reward crowdfunding campaigns for social ventures," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 773-800, June.
    8. Chan, Ho Fai & Moy, Naomi & Schaffner, Markus & Torgler, Benno, 2021. "The effects of money saliency and sustainability orientation on reward based crowdfunding success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 443-455.
    9. Sewaid, Ahmed & Parker, Simon C. & Kaakeh, Abdulkader, 2021. "Explaining serial crowdfunders' dynamic fundraising performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    10. Janina Sundermeier & Tyge-F. Kummer, 2022. "Does personality still matter in e-commerce? How perceived hubris influences the assessment of founders’ trustworthiness using the example of reward-based crowdfunding," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1127-1144, September.
    11. Lin, Tse-Chun & Pursiainen, Vesa, 2022. "Regional social capital and moral hazard in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    12. Cai, Wanxiang & Polzin, Friedemann & Stam, Erik, 2021. "Crowdfunding and social capital: A systematic review using a dynamic perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    13. Calic, Goran & Shevchenko, Anton, 2020. "How signal intensity of behavioral orientations affects crowdfunding performance: The role of entrepreneurial orientation in crowdfunding business ventures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 204-220.
    14. Boudreau, Kevin J. & Jeppesen, Lars Bo & Reichstein, Toke & Rullani, Francesco, 2021. "Crowdfunding as Donations to Entrepreneurial Firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    15. Elrashidy, Zeinab & Haniffa, Roszaini & Sherif, Mohamed & Baroudi, Sarra, 2024. "Determinants of reward crowdfunding success: Evidence from Covid-19 pandemic," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    16. Chan, C.S. Richard & Parhankangas, Annaleena & Sahaym, Arvin & Oo, Pyayt, 2020. "Bellwether and the herd? Unpacking the u-shaped relationship between prior funding and subsequent contributions in reward-based crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(2).
    17. Daniel Blaseg & Christian Schulze & Bernd Skiera, 2020. "Consumer Protection on Kickstarter," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 39(1), pages 211-233, January.
    18. Mahmood, Ammara & Luffarelli, Jonathan & Mukesh, Mudra, 2019. "What's in a logo? The impact of complex visual cues in equity crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 41-62.
    19. Sewaid, Ahmed & Garcia-Cestona, Miguel & Silaghi, Florina, 2021. "Resolving information asymmetries in financing new product development: The case of reward-based crowdfunding," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(10).
    20. Clarissa E. Weber & Norbert Steigenberger & Hendrik Wilhelm, 2023. "After successful fundraising: how overfunding and category spanning affect the release and audience-perceived quality of crowdfunded products," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 1009-1026, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:40:y:2023:i:2:d:10.1007_s10490-021-09801-w. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.