IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/esconf/338888.html

Giving Neurotic Entrepreneurs Money to Save the World? An Analysis of U.S. Equity Crowdfunding Projects

Author

Listed:
  • Koster, Scarlett
  • Isaak, Andrew Jay

Abstract

A key challenge faced by entrepreneurs is financing the venture for which equity crowdfunding presents an alternative with relatively low entry barriers. While it has recently been shown that perceived personality traits of the entrepreneur can impact crowdfunding success, so far, little is known about which perceived personality traits drive funding success in the context of sustainable ventures, which this study explores. To answer this question, through the lens of asymmetric information, we use quantitative regression analysis of U.S.-based equity crowdfunding projects. Overall, our preliminary results suggest an interaction between sustainability and the negatively perceived personality trait (neuroticism) on equity crowdfunding funding success. Further, we replicate recent findings on the role of negatively perceived personality traits in crowdfunding. This study contributes to our knowledge of the role of the entrepreneur's perceived personality and communication in successfully financing sustainable ventures via equity crowdfunding, bringing us closer to co-creating sustainable digital futures.

Suggested Citation

  • Koster, Scarlett & Isaak, Andrew Jay, 2023. "Giving Neurotic Entrepreneurs Money to Save the World? An Analysis of U.S. Equity Crowdfunding Projects," EconStor Conference Papers 338888, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esconf:338888
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/338888/1/ECIS2023-Giving-Neurotic-Entrepreneurs-Money.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anonymous, 1965. "Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 120-122, January.
    2. Anonymous, 1965. "Organization of American States," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 145-150, January.
    3. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    4. Anonymous, 1965. "International Labor Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 131-137, January.
    5. Almlund, Mathilde & Duckworth, Angela Lee & Heckman, James & Kautz, Tim, 2011. "Personality Psychology and Economics," Handbook of the Economics of Education, in: Erik Hanushek & Stephen Machin & Ludger Woessmann (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Education, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 1-181, Elsevier.
    6. Thomas H. Allison & Blakley C. Davis & Jeremy C. Short & Justin W. Webb, 2015. "Crowdfunding in a Prosocial Microlending Environment: Examining the Role of Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Cues," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(1), pages 53-73, January.
    7. 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.
    8. Anonymous, 1965. "Caribbean Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 1070-1073, October.
    9. Othmar M. Lehner, 2013. "Crowdfunding social ventures: a model and research agenda," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 289-311, October.
    10. Henner Gimpel & Valerie Graf-Drasch & Alexander Kammerer & Maximilian Keller & Xinyi Zheng, 2020. "When does it pay off to integrate sustainability in the business model? – A game-theoretic analysis," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(4), pages 699-716, December.
    11. Thies, Ferdinand & Wessel, Michael & Rudolph, Jan & Benlian, Alexander, 2016. "Personality Matters: How Signaling Personality Traits Can Influence the Adoption and Diffusion of Crowdfunding Campaigns," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 79991, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    12. Heckman, James J., 2011. "Integrating Personality Psychology into Economics," IZA Discussion Papers 5950, IZA Network @ LISER.
    13. Anonymous, 1965. "International Civil Aviation Organization," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(1), pages 129-131, January.
    14. 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.
    15. Vismara, Silvio, 2019. "Sustainability in equity crowdfunding," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 98-106.
    16. Vincenzo Butticè & Silvio Vismara, 2022. "Inclusive digital finance: the industry of equity crowdfunding," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1224-1241, August.
    17. Goran Calic & Elaine Mosakowski, 2016. "Kicking Off Social Entrepreneurship: How A Sustainability Orientation Influences Crowdfunding Success," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 738-767, July.
    18. Pacheco, Desirée F. & Dean, Thomas J. & Payne, David S., 2010. "Escaping the green prison: Entrepreneurship and the creation of opportunities for sustainable development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 464-480, September.
    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. Sumaya Islam, 2026. "Survival Of The Greenest? Life Cycles Of Green And Non-Green Start-Ups In Germany," Working Papers Dissertations 167, Paderborn University, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.
    2. Stefania Testa & Paolo Roma & Maria Vasi & Silvano Cincotti, 2020. "Crowdfunding as a tool to support sustainability‐oriented initiatives: Preliminary insights into the role of product/service attributes," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 530-546, February.
    3. 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.
    4. Hörisch, Jacob & Tenner, Isabell, 2020. "How environmental and social orientations influence the funding success of investment-based crowdfunding: The mediating role of the number of funders and the average funding amount," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    5. Sven Siebeneicher & Ilker Yenice & Carolin Bock, 2022. "Financial-Return Crowdfunding for Energy and Sustainability in the German-Speaking Realm," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-23, September.
    6. Penz, R. Frederic & Hörisch, Jacob & Tenner, Isabell, 2022. "Investors in environmental ventures want good money—and a clean conscience: How framing, interest rates, and the environmental impact of crowdlending projects influence funding decisions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    7. Jinjuan Yang & Jiayuan Xin & Yan Zeng & Pei Jose Liu, 2025. "Signaling and perceiving on equity crowdfunding decisions — a machine learning approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 315-356, June.
    8. 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.
    9. Kristian Roed Nielsen & Julia Katharina Binder, 2021. "I Am What I Pledge: The Importance of Value Alignment for Mobilizing Backers in Reward-Based Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(3), pages 531-561, May.
    10. Shen, Yi & Giroud, Axèle & Han, Xia, 2025. "Navigating turbulent waters: A literature review of socio-political risks and multinational enterprises’ nonmarket strategies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(6).
    11. Constantin von Selasinsky & Eva Lutz, 2021. "The Effects of Pro-Social and Pro-Environmental Orientation on Crowdfunding Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-27, May.
    12. Berns, John P. & Jia, Yankun & Gondo, Maria, 2022. "Crowdfunding success in sustainability-oriented projects: An exploratory examination of the crowdfunding of 3D printers," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. Liu, Yuanyuan & Yang, Xiaoyun & Li, Yuanyuan Jamie & Huangfu, Bingrui, 2026. "When going green backfires: The influence of environmental commitments on crowdfunding success," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    14. Laurell, Christofer & Sandström, Christian & Suseno, Yuliani, 2019. "Assessing the interplay between crowdfunding and sustainability in social media," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 117-127.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. Francesco Cappa & Michele Pinelli & Riccardo Maiolini & Maria Isabella Leone, 2021. "“Pledge” me your ears! The role of narratives and narrator experience in explaining crowdfunding success," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 953-973, August.
    19. von Horn, Roland & Kudic, Muhamed, 2025. "Systemic risk in the fintech-banking system: Assessing instabilities and vulnerabilities in Central Europe," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    20. Annaleena Parhankangas & Rick Colbourne, 2023. "Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation: A Typology of Indigenous Crowdfunding Campaigns," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(5), pages 1617-1659, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:zbw:esconf:338888. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    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.