Beyond Words: An Experimental Study of Signaling in Crowdfunding

TL;DR

This study investigates how social signals like contribution heterogeneity and timing influence crowdfunding decisions, revealing their significant impact across various conditions and the unawareness of participants about these effects.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence on the role of crowd signals in crowdfunding, highlighting their influence and the lack of participant awareness, which was previously underexplored.

Findings

Heterogeneous contributions increase funding likelihood.

Signaling effects are strongest among socially influenced participants.

The impact of signals is consistent across project types and participant attitudes.

Abstract

Increasingly, crowdfunding is transforming financing for many people worldwide. Yet we know relatively little about how, why, and when funding outcomes are impacted by signaling between funders. We conduct two studies of N=500 and N=750 participants involved in crowdfunding to investigate the effect of certain characteristics of ``crowd signals'' on the decision to fund. We find that, under a variety of conditions, contributions of heterogeneous amounts arriving at varying time intervals are significantly more likely to be selected than homogeneous contribution amounts and times. The impact of signaling is strongest among participants who are susceptible to social influence. The effect is remarkably general across different project types, fundraising goals, participant interest in the projects, and participants' altruistic attitudes. Critically, the role of crowd signals in decision-making is typically unrecognized by participants. Our results underscore the fundamental nature of social signaling in crowdfunding, informing strategies for platforms, funders, and project creators.