IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/esconf/338891.html

Implicit Personality and Big Five Traits in Equity Crowdfunding

Author

Listed:
  • Neuhaus, Julia
  • Isaak, Andrew Jay
  • Bostandzic, Denefa

Abstract

Implicit personality representations play a crucial role in shaping how investors perceive entrepreneurs and subsequently invest in their projects. We investigate the relationship between perceived Big Five personality signals and funding success utilizing a sample of 709 US-based equity crowdfunding campaigns. We find that higher conscientiousness, lower neuroticism, extraversion, and openness serve as funding success signals, significantly affecting both the funding level and number of investors attracted. This study extends the literature on the relationship between perceived personality signals and entrepreneurial finance by demonstrating the context-dependence of personality signals. The results fuel arguments that equity crowdfunding gears towards classical venture financing and is less comparable to reward-based crowdfunding.

Suggested Citation

  • Neuhaus, Julia & Isaak, Andrew Jay & Bostandzic, Denefa, 2021. "Implicit Personality and Big Five Traits in Equity Crowdfunding," EconStor Conference Papers 338891, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:esconf:338891
    Note: Shared first authorship with Julia Neuhaus
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/338891/1/ICIS2021-Big-Five-Traits-Equity-Crowdfunding.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    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. Mollick, Ethan, 2014. "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-16.
    3. 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.
    4. Danny Miller, 2015. "A Downside to the Entrepreneurial Personality?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(1), pages 1-8, January.
    5. 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).
    6. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    7. Ciavarella, Mark A. & Buchholtz, Ann K. & Riordan, Christine M. & Gatewood, Robert D. & Stokes, Garnett S., 2004. "The Big Five and venture survival: Is there a linkage?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 465-483, July.
    8. Cumming, Douglas & Meoli, Michele & Vismara, Silvio, 2019. "Investors’ choices between cash and voting rights: Evidence from dual-class equity crowdfunding," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8), pages 1-1.
    9. Silvio Vismara, 2016. "Equity retention and social network theory in equity crowdfunding," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 579-590, April.
    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. 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.
    2. Andrew Isaak & Julia Neuhaus & Denefa Bostandzic, 2024. "When personality pays: observer rating of personality and financial success of equity crowdfunded startups," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(2), pages 131-161, April.
    3. 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).
    4. 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.
    5. Maurer, Joshua D. & Creek, Steven A. & Allison, Thomas H. & Bendickson, Joshua S. & Sahaym, Arvin, 2024. "Getting to know someone in ten seconds: Social role theory and perceived personality in entrepreneurial pitch videos," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    6. Pankaj C. Patel & Marcus T. Wolfe & Andrew S. Manikas, 2021. "Logic is (Somewhat) Overrated: Image-Based Versus Concept-Based Rhetoric in Crowdfunding Narratives," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(3), pages 600-625, May.
    7. Duan, Yang & Hsieh, Tien-Shih & Wang, Ray R. & Wang, Zhihong, 2020. "Entrepreneurs' facial trustworthiness, gender, and crowdfunding success," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. 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).
    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. Frimpong, Bright & Mohammed, Fatima & Larson, Keri M. & Anderson Junior, Henry, 2024. "Take my word for it! The role of projected certainty signaling and certainty alignment in reward crowdfunding outcomes," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    11. Gabriel Rodríguez-Garnica & María Gutiérrez-Urtiaga & Josep A. Tribo, 2025. "Signaling and herding in reward-based crowdfunding," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 889-916, March.
    12. Elitzur, Ramy & Muttath, Peri & Soberman, David, 2024. "Crowdfunding and too much choice: A recipe for disappointment," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    13. Helen Bollaert & Gaël Leboeuf & Armin Schwienbacher, 2020. "The narcissism of crowdfunding entrepreneurs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 57-76, June.
    14. Fang, Xing, 2022. "Why we hide good deeds? The selfless and anonymous donation behavior in crowdfunding," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    15. 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.
    16. Carolin Bock & Sven Siebeneicher & Jens Rockel, 2022. "The “C” in crowdfunding is for co-financing: exploring participative co-financing, a complement of novel and traditional bank financing," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 92(9), pages 1559-1602, November.
    17. Swati Oberoi & Rohit Joshi & Atul Mehta & Smita Srivastava & Vishal K. Gupta, 2024. "Crowdfunding Research: Critical Analysis and Constructive Agenda for Future Inquiry," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 33(3), pages 651-699, August.
    18. Saul Estrin & Susanna Khavul & Mike Wright, 2022. "Soft and hard information in equity crowdfunding: network effects in the digitalization of entrepreneurial finance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1761-1781, April.
    19. 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).
    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.

    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
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

    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:338891. 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.