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Launching for Success: The Effects of Psychological Distance and Mental Simulation on Funding Decisions and Crowdfunding Performance

Author

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  • Rose, Stefan
  • Wentzel, Daniel
  • Hopp, Christian
  • Kaminski, Jermain

    (Maastricht University)

Abstract

This research examines how potential backers form mental representations of products in reward- based crowdfunding campaigns, and how these representations affect funding decisions and campaign performance. To test our framework, we conducted four experiments and also drew on a sample of 961 Kickstarter campaigns. Our results show that two campaign characteristics – the product’s development stage and the indicated time to product delivery – determine the psychological distance that supporters experience in response to a campaign, and that psychological distance, in turn, inhibits individual campaign contributions and cumulative campaign success. Furthermore, we find that encouraging supporters to imagine the benefits of product usage is an effective means to increase support for campaigns that elicit high psychological distance.

Suggested Citation

  • Rose, Stefan & Wentzel, Daniel & Hopp, Christian & Kaminski, Jermain, 2020. "Launching for Success: The Effects of Psychological Distance and Mental Simulation on Funding Decisions and Crowdfunding Performance," SocArXiv fqbwk, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:fqbwk
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/fqbwk
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    Cited by:

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    2. Lin Jiang & Dezhi Yin & Dong Liu & Richard Johnson, 2023. "The More Enthusiastic, the Better? Unveiling a Negative Pathway From Entrepreneurs’ Displayed Enthusiasm to Funders’ Funding Intentions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1356-1388, July.
    3. Felix Pinkow, 2022. "The impact of common success factors on overfunding in reward-based crowdfunding: An explorative study and avenues for future research," Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management and Innovation, Fundacja Upowszechniająca Wiedzę i Naukę "Cognitione", vol. 18(1), pages 131-168.
    4. Dan K. Hsu & J. Robert Mitchell & Xian Cao, 2024. "Examining Psychological Mediators in Entrepreneurship: Experimental Designs, Remedies, and Recommendations," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 418-445, January.
    5. Koller, Sonia & Stephan, Ute & Ahmetoglu, Gorkan, 2022. "Ecological rationality and entrepreneurship: How entrepreneurs fit decision logics to decision content and structure," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    6. Drencheva, Andreana & Stephan, Ute & Patterson, Malcolm G. & Topakas, Anna, 2021. "Navigating interpersonal feedback seeking in social venturing: The roles of psychological distance and sensemaking," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    7. Oo, Pyayt P. & Jiang, Lin & Sahaym, Arvin & Parhankangas, Annaleena & Chan, Richard, 2023. "Actions in words: How entrepreneurs use diversified and changing speech acts to achieve funding success," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    8. Chan, C.S. Richard & Pethe, Charuta & Skiena, Steven, 2021. "Natural language processing versus rule-based text analysis: Comparing BERT score and readability indices to predict crowdfunding outcomes," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 16(C).

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