IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bushor/v65y2022i1p43-58.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Choose your words carefully: Harnessing the language of crowdfunding for success

Author

Listed:
  • Anglin, Aaron H.
  • Pidduck, Robert J.

Abstract

When it comes to raising money via crowdfunding, the language used in campaign narratives matters. Little practical guidance has been offered to those wishing to use crowdfunding concerning how to tailor the language in a crowdfunding campaign to enhance funding prospects. We take insights generated in academic research and distill those down to practical guidance for crowdfunding users. Here, we focus on two important aspects of language. First, we highlight how language that provides insight into the entrepreneurs’ personality—words expressing positivity, charisma, resilience, or narcissism—relates to funding. Second, we outline how various linguistic styles used to describe the general topics of the campaign relate to funding. Our work is particularly applicable to one of the most popular forms of crowdfunding: rewards-based crowdfunding.

Suggested Citation

  • Anglin, Aaron H. & Pidduck, Robert J., 2022. "Choose your words carefully: Harnessing the language of crowdfunding for success," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 43-58.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:65:y:2022:i:1:p:43-58
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2021.09.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681321001671
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bushor.2021.09.004?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. Aaron H. Anglin & Aaron F. McKenny & Jeremy C. Short, 2018. "The Impact of Collective Optimism on New Venture Creation and Growth: A Social Contagion Perspective," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 42(3), pages 390-425, May.
    3. Johnson, Michael A. & Stevenson, Regan M. & Letwin, Chaim R., 2018. "A woman's place is in the… startup! Crowdfunder judgments, implicit bias, and the stereotype content model," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 813-831.
    4. Matthew Josefy & Thomas J. Dean & Lumina S. Albert & Markus A. Fitza, 2017. "The Role of Community in Crowdfunding Success: Evidence on Cultural Attributes in Funding Campaigns to “Save the Local Theaterâ€," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(2), pages 161-182, March.
    5. 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.
    6. Cowden, Birton J. & Young, Susan L., 2020. "The copycat conundrum: The double-edged sword of crowdfunding," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 541-551.
    7. Johan, Sofia & Zhang, Yelin, 2020. "Quality revealing versus overstating in equity crowdfunding," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    8. Parhankangas, Annaleena & Renko, Maija, 2017. "Linguistic style and crowdfunding success among social and commercial entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 215-236.
    9. Short, Jeremy C. & Anglin, Aaron H., 2019. "Is leadership language ‘rewarded’ in crowdfunding? Replicating social entrepreneurship research in a rewards-based context," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Andreas Rauch & Robert van Doorn & Willem Hulsink, 2014. "A Qualitative Approach to Evidence–Based Entrepreneurship: Theoretical Considerations and an Example Involving Business Clusters," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(2), pages 333-368, March.
    11. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    12. Anglin, Aaron H. & Wolfe, Marcus T. & Short, Jeremy C. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Pidduck, Robert J., 2018. "Narcissistic rhetoric and crowdfunding performance: A social role theory perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 780-812.
    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. Phillip H. Kim & Mickaël Buffart & Grégoire Croidieu, 2016. "TMI: Signaling credible claims in crowdfunding campaign narratives," Post-Print hal-03188198, HAL.
    15. Stevenson, Regan M. & Ciuchta, Michael P. & Letwin, Chaim & Dinger, Jenni M. & Vancouver, Jeffrey B., 2019. "Out of control or right on the money? Funder self-efficacy and crowd bias in equity crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 348-367.
    16. Christian Korunka & Hermann Frank & Manfred Lueger & Josef Mugler, 2003. "The Entrepreneurial Personality in the Context of Resources, Environment, and the Startup Process—A Configurational Approach," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 28(1), pages 23-42, January.
    17. Juanjuan Zhang & Peng Liu, 2012. "Rational Herding in Microloan Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(5), pages 892-912, May.
    18. Jermain C. Kaminski & Christian Hopp, 0. "Predicting outcomes in crowdfunding campaigns with textual, visual, and linguistic signals," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    19. Davis, Blakley C. & Hmieleski, Keith M. & Webb, Justin W. & Coombs, Joseph E., 2017. "Funders' positive affective reactions to entrepreneurs' crowdfunding pitches: The influence of perceived product creativity and entrepreneurial passion," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 90-106.
    20. Abhijit V. Banerjee, 1992. "A Simple Model of Herd Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(3), pages 797-817.
    21. Nevena Radoynovska & Brayden G. King, 2019. "To Whom Are You True? Audience Perceptions of Authenticity in Nascent Crowdfunding Ventures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 781-802, July.
    22. 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.
    23. Warnick, Benjamin J. & Davis, Blakley C. & Allison, Thomas H. & Anglin, Aaron H., 2021. "Express yourself: Facial expression of happiness, anger, fear, and sadness in funding pitches," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    24. Nevena Radoynovska & Brayden G. King, 2019. "To Whom Are You True? : Audience Perceptions of Authenticity in Nascent Crowdfunding Ventures," Post-Print hal-02312367, HAL.
    25. 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.
    26. Pidduck, Robert J. & Busenitz, Lowell W. & Zhang, Yejun & Ghosh Moulick, Abhisekh, 2020. "Oh, the places you’ll go: A schema theory perspective on cross-cultural experience and entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Aaron H. Anglin & Shane W. Reid & Jeremy C. Short, 2023. "More Than One Way to Tell a Story: A Configurational Approach to Storytelling in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 461-494, March.
    2. Krukowski, Kipp A. & Pollack, Jeffrey M. & Rutherford, Matthew W., 2023. "Winning the opportunity to pitch: Piquing startup investors’ interest by sending the right signals in executive summaries," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 75-86.
    3. Abd Hamid, Hamizah & Pidduck, Robert J. & Newman, Alexander & Ayob, Abu Hanifah & Sidek, Farhana, 2023. "Intercultural resource arbitrageurs: A review and extension of the literature on transnational entrepreneurs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).

    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. 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).
    2. Aaron H. Anglin & Shane W. Reid & Jeremy C. Short, 2023. "More Than One Way to Tell a Story: A Configurational Approach to Storytelling in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 461-494, March.
    3. 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.
    4. Uparna, Jayaram & Bingham, Chris, 2022. "Breaking “Bad”: Negativity’s benefit for entrepreneurial funding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1353-1365.
    5. Rama, Ali & Jiang, Chunxia & Johan, Sofia & Liu, Hong & Mai, Yong, 2022. "Religious and social narratives and crowdfunding success," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Geiger, Mark, 2020. "A meta-analysis of the gender gap(s) in venture funding: Funder- and entrepreneur-driven perspectives," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    7. Yang, Jialiang & Li, Yaokuang & Calic, Goran & Shevchenko, Anton, 2020. "How multimedia shape crowdfunding outcomes: The overshadowing effect of images and videos on text in campaign information," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 6-18.
    8. 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).
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Aaron H. Anglin & Christopher Courtney & Thomas H. Allison, 2022. "Venturing for Others, Subject to Role Expectations? A Role Congruity Theory Approach to Social Venture Crowd Funding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(2), pages 421-448, March.
    13. Yang Zhao & Xuemei Xie & Liuyong Yang, 2021. "Female entrepreneurs and equity crowdfunding: the consequential roles of lead investors and venture stages," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 1183-1211, September.
    14. Rose, Stefan & Wentzel, Daniel & Hopp, Christian & Kaminski, Jermain, 2021. "Launching for success: The effects of psychological distance and mental simulation on funding decisions and crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).
    15. Tafesse, Wondwesen, 2021. "Communicating crowdfunding campaigns: How message strategy, vivid media use and product type influence campaign success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 252-263.
    16. McSweeney, Jordan J. & McSweeney, Kevin T. & Webb, Justin W. & Devers, Cynthia E., 2022. "The right touch of pitch assertiveness: Examining entrepreneurs' gender and project category fit in crowdfunding," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(4).
    17. Julia Neuhaus & Andrew Isaak & Denefa Bostandzic, 2022. "Million dollar personality: a systematic literature review on personality in crowdfunding," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 309-345, June.
    18. Alex Murray & Suresh Kotha & Greg Fisher, 2020. "Community-Based Resource Mobilization: How Entrepreneurs Acquire Resources from Distributed Non-Professionals via Crowdfunding," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 960-989, July.
    19. 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.
    20. 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.

    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:eee:bushor:v:65:y:2022:i:1:p:43-58. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor .

    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.