IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/rvmgts/v19y2025i4d10.1007_s11846-024-00790-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Followers beat content: social media and the managers in initial coin offerings (ICOs)

Author

Listed:
  • Johannes Gartner

    (Delft University of Technology)

  • Andrea Moro

    (Cranfield University)

Abstract

Our research investigates the role of social media communication in amplifying high-quality information and its impact on the success of ICOs in achieving their soft cap. We analyzed data from 3,644 ICOs and the demographics of 1,987 CEOs, CFOs, and CTOs to compare their quality attributes against their number of social media followers. Our findings reveal that the most significant factors for reaching the soft cap are the number of followers and team size, while the competencies (education and skills) of the management team have a very marginal effect, even when enhanced through social media. This indicates that widespread social media signals can positively influence investor behavior without necessarily reducing information asymmetries regarding the quality of the team. We propose that this effect arises from the combination of minimal investment amounts and stimulated herding behavior among investors.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Gartner & Andrea Moro, 2025. "Followers beat content: social media and the managers in initial coin offerings (ICOs)," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1229-1256, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:rvmgts:v:19:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s11846-024-00790-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s11846-024-00790-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11846-024-00790-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/s11846-024-00790-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. Benedetti, Hugo & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2021. "Digital Tulips? Returns to investors in initial coin offerings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Tinghua Duan, 2019. "Initial Coin Offerings and Entrepreneurial Finance: The Role of Founders’ Characteristics," Post-Print hal-02512437, HAL.
    3. Niels Bosma & Mirjam van Praag & Roy Thurik & Gerrit de Wit, 2004. "The Value of Human and Social Capital Investments for the Business Performance of Startups," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 227-236, October.
    4. Bhattacharya, Sudipto, 1979. "Abstract: An Exploration of Nondissipative Dividend-Signaling Structures," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 667-668, November.
    5. Elliott, William B. & Prevost, Andrew K. & Rao, Ramesh P., 2009. "The announcement impact of seasoned equity offerings on bondholder wealth," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 1472-1480, August.
    6. Simon Albrecht & Bernhard Lutz & Dirk Neumann, 2020. "The behavior of blockchain ventures on Twitter as a determinant for funding success," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(2), pages 241-257, June.
    7. Momtaz, Paul P., 2021. "Entrepreneurial Finance and Moral Hazard: Evidence from Token Offerings," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(5).
    8. Yi Sun & Shihui Li & Rui Wang, 2023. "Fintech: from budding to explosion - an overview of the current state of research," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 715-755, April.
    9. N. Berger, Allen & F. Udell, Gregory, 1998. "The economics of small business finance: The roles of private equity and debt markets in the financial growth cycle," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(6-8), pages 613-673, August.
    10. Adhami, Saman & Giudici, Giancarlo & Martinazzi, Stefano, 2018. "Why do businesses go crypto? An empirical analysis of initial coin offerings," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 64-75.
    11. Lurdes D. Patrício & João J. Ferreira, 2024. "Unlocking the connection between education, entrepreneurial mindset, and social values in entrepreneurial activity development," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 991-1013, April.
    12. Paul P Momtaz, 2020. "Initial Coin Offerings," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-30, May.
    13. Winborg, Joakim & Landstrom, Hans, 2001. "Financial bootstrapping in small businesses: Examining small business managers' resource acquisition behaviors," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 235-254, May.
    14. repec:srs:journl:jasf:v:9:y:2018:i:2:p:60-77 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Michael Spence, 2002. "Signaling in Retrospect and the Informational Structure of Markets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 434-459, June.
    16. Ahmad Alaassar & Anne-Laure Mention & Tor Helge Aas, 2023. "Facilitating innovation in FinTech: a review and research agenda," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 33-66, January.
    17. Bellavitis, Cristiano & Fisch, Christian & Wiklund, Johan, 2021. "A comprehensive review of the global development of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and their regulation," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    18. Berger, Allen N. & Udell, Gregory F., 2006. "A more complete conceptual framework for SME finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 2945-2966, November.
    19. Vítor Manuel de Sousa-Gabriel & María Belén Lozano-García & Maria Fernanda Ludovina Inácio Matias & Maria Elisabete Neves & Jennifer Martínez-Ferrero, 2024. "Global environmental equities and investor sentiment: the role of social media and Covid-19 pandemic crisis," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 105-129, January.
    20. Fisch, Christian, 2019. "Initial coin offerings (ICOs) to finance new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-22.
    21. Paul Lowry & Clay Posey & Tom Roberts & Rebecca Bennett, 2014. "Is Your Banker Leaking Your Personal Information? The Roles of Ethics and Individual-Level Cultural Characteristics in Predicting Organizational Computer Abuse," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 121(3), pages 385-401, May.
    22. Stephen A. Ross, 1977. "The Determination of Financial Structure: The Incentive-Signalling Approach," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(1), pages 23-40, Spring.
    23. Sabrina T Howell & Marina Niessner & David Yermack & Jiang Wei, 2020. "Initial Coin Offerings: Financing Growth with Cryptocurrency Token Sales," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(9), pages 3925-3974.
    24. Ross, Stephen A, 1973. "The Economic Theory of Agency: The Principal's Problem," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 63(2), pages 134-139, May.
    25. Lennart Ante & Philipp Sandner & Ingo Fiedler, 2018. "Blockchain-Based ICOs: Pure Hype or the Dawn of a New Era of Startup Financing?," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-19, November.
    26. Winifred Huang & Michele Meoli & Silvio Vismara, 2020. "The geography of initial coin offerings," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 77-102, June.
    27. Paola Cerchiello & Anca Mirela Toma & Marco Caluzzi, 2021. "ICOs White Papers: identity card or lark mirror?," DEM Working Papers Series 197, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    28. Gartner, Johannes & Fink, Matthias & Floh, Arne & Eggers, Fabian, 2021. "Service quality in social media communication of NPOs: The moderating effect of channel choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 579-587.
    29. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2000. "The Contributions of the Economics of Information to Twentieth Century Economics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(4), pages 1441-1478.
    30. Mark A Chen & Qinxi Wu & Baozhong Yang, 2019. "How Valuable Is FinTech Innovation?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 2062-2106.
    31. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    32. Kreps, David M. & Wilson, Robert, 1982. "Reputation and imperfect information," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 253-279, August.
    33. Gudmundsson, Sveinn Vidar & Lechner, Christian, 2013. "Cognitive biases, organization, and entrepreneurial firm survival," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 278-294.
    34. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    35. Park, Gunno & Shin, Seungryul Ryan & Choy, Minkyung, 2020. "Early mover (dis)advantages and knowledge spillover effects on blockchain startups’ funding and innovation performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 64-75.
    36. James S. Ang, 1992. "On the Theory of Finance for Privately Held Firms," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business and Management, vol. 1(3), pages 185-203, Spring.
    37. Fisch, Christian & Momtaz, Paul P., 2020. "Institutional investors and post-ICO performance: an empirical analysis of investor returns in initial coin offerings (ICOs)," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    38. Matthias Fink & Isabella Hatak & Markus Scholz & Simon Down, 2020. "He who pays the piper calls the tune? Setting the stage for an informed discourse on third-party funding of academic business research," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 335-343, April.
    39. Pau Sendra-Pons & Dolores Garzón & María-Ángeles Revilla-Camacho, 2024. "Catalyzing success in equity crowdfunding: trust-building strategies through signaling," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(9), pages 2699-2721, September.
    40. David Yermack, 2017. "Corporate Governance and Blockchains," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(1), pages 7-31.
    41. Chen, Yan, 2018. "Blockchain tokens and the potential democratization of entrepreneurship and innovation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 61(4), pages 567-575.
    42. Alberto Michele Felicetti & Vincenzo Corvello & Salvatore Ammirato, 2024. "Digital innovation in entrepreneurial firms: a systematic literature review," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 315-362, February.
    43. Cassar, Gavin & Craig, Justin, 2009. "An investigation of hindsight bias in nascent venture activity," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 149-164, March.
    44. Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2002. "Information and the Change in the Paradigm in Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 460-501, June.
    45. Breidbach, Christoph F. & Tana, Silviana, 2021. "Betting on Bitcoin: How social collectives shape cryptocurrency markets," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 311-320.
    46. Paul BARNES, 2018. "Crypto Currency and its Susceptibility to Speculative Bubbles Manipulation Scams and Fraud," Journal of Advanced Studies in Finance, ASERS Publishing, vol. 9(2), pages 60-77.
    47. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    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. Gartner, Johannes & Moro, Andrea, 2024. "C-level managers and born-digitals' scaling: The case of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    2. Chitsazan, Hasti & Bagheri, Afsaneh & Tajeddin, Mahdi, 2022. "Initial coin offerings (ICOs) success: Conceptualization, theories and systematic analysis of empirical studies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    3. Paul P. Momtaz, 2024. "Decentralized finance (DeFi) markets for startups: search frictions, intermediation, and the efficiency of the ICO market," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 1415-1447, December.
    4. Anton Miglo, 2022. "Choice between IEO and ICO: Speed vs. Liquidity vs. Risk," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 1(3), pages 1-18, September.
    5. Sun, Yan & Yang, Sung-Byung, 2024. "Are ICOs the best? A comparison of different fundraising models in blockchain-based fundraising," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    6. Kolbe, Maura & Mansouri, Sasan & Momtaz, Paul P., 2022. "Why do video pitches matter in crowdfunding?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    7. Johannes Fuchs & Paul P. Momtaz, 2025. "Token governance in initial coin offerings: Implications of token retention and resale restrictions for ICO success," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 1321-1359, March.
    8. Cumming, Douglas & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Momtaz, Paul P. & Schermann, Niclas, 2025. "Financing decentralized digital platform growth: The role of crypto funds in blockchain-based startups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 40(1).
    9. Marten Risius & Christoph F. Breidbach & Mathieu Chanson & Ruben Krannichfeldt & Felix Wortmann, 2023. "On the performance of blockchain-based token offerings," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-19, December.
    10. Ferdinand Thies & Sören Wallbach & Michael Wessel & Markus Besler & Alexander Benlian, 2022. "Initial coin offerings and the cryptocurrency hype - the moderating role of exogenous and endogenous signals," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(3), pages 1691-1705, September.
    11. de Andrés, Pablo & Arroyo, David & Correia, Ricardo & Rezola, Alvaro, 2022. "Challenges of the market for initial coin offerings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    12. Muneer M. Alshater & Mayank Joshipura & Rim El Khoury & Nohade Nasrallah, 2023. "Initial Coin Offerings: a Hybrid Empirical Review," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 891-908, October.
    13. Sangeeta Wats & Mahesh Joshi & Simarjeet Singh, 2024. "Initial coin offerings: current trends and future research directions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 1361-1387, April.
    14. Bongini, Paola & Osborne, Francesco & Pedrazzoli, Alessia & Rossolini, Monica, 2022. "A topic modelling analysis of white papers in security token offerings: Which topic matters for funding?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    15. Efim Zhitomirskiy & Stefan Schmid & Martin Walther, 2023. "Tokenizing assets with dividend payouts—a legally compliant and flexible design," Digital Finance, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 563-580, December.
    16. Luisa Faust & Maura Kolbe & Sasan Mansouri & Paul P. Momtaz, 2022. "The Crowdfunding of Altruism," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-29, March.
    17. José Campino & Ana Brochado & Álvaro Rosa, 2022. "Initial coin offerings (ICOs): Why do they succeed?," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 8(1), pages 1-35, December.
    18. Kreppmeier, Julia & Laschinger, Ralf & Steininger, Bertram & Dorfleitner, Gregor, 2023. "Real Estate Security Token Offerings and the Secondary Market: Driven by Crypto Hype or Fundamentals?," Working Paper Series 23/6, Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Real Estate and Construction Management & Banking and Finance.
    19. Bollaert, Helen & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Schwienbacher, Armin, 2021. "Fintech and access to finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    20. Kreppmeier, Julia & Laschinger, Ralf & Steininger, Bertram I. & Dorfleitner, Gregor, 2023. "Real estate security token offerings and the secondary market: Driven by crypto hype or fundamentals?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

    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:spr:rvmgts:v:19:y:2025:i:4:d:10.1007_s11846-024-00790-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.