Investigating the determinants of medical crowdfunding performance: a signaling theory perspective

Abstract

PurposeThis study examines the determinants of medical crowdfunding performance. Drawing on signaling theory, the authors investigate how funding-related signals (funding goal and duration), story-related signals (text length, text sentiment, and use of first-person pronouns), and donor-related signals (donor identity disclosure) affect medical crowdfunding performance.Design/methodology/approachThis study analyzed the data of 754 medical crowdfunding projects collected from the Qingsongchou platform in China to test the proposed model.FindingsThe empirical findings reveal that both funding goal and funding duration exhibit a U-shaped relationship with crowdfunding performance. Additionally, the authors find evidence that story text length and donor identity disclosure are positively related to crowdfunding performance, whereas the use of first-person pronouns is negatively related to crowdfunding performance.Originality/valueThis study extends the understanding of the determinants of medical crowdfunding performance through the signaling theory. Specifically, this study provides new insights into the roles of funding goal and funding duration in predicting medical crowdfunding performance and identifies several new predictors of crowdfunding performance, including the use of first-person pronouns in project story text and donor identity disclosure.

Crowdfunding adoption in emerging economies: insights for entrepreneurs and policymakers

“…Notably, Islam and Khan (2021) demonstrated that perceived ease, clarity and understanding of crowdfunding instructions are considered effort expectancy. The empirical result shows that effort expectancy significantly impacts behavioral intention (Chen et al, 2022). On the contrary, Alshebami (2022) found that effort expectancy insignificantly impacts the behavioral intention of entrepreneurs to adopt crowdfunding platforms.…”

“…Despite this, the authors observe that minimal research has Crowdfunding adoption in emerging economies been conducted on the SME entrepreneurs' perspective. Similarly, prior research was conducted in developed nations, such as China (Chen et al, 2022), Korea (Kim and Hall, 2020) and Italy (Marchegiani, 2018;Valenza et al, 2023). For instance, Islam and Khan (2021) and Chen et al (2022) stated that it is profoundly essential to re-examine the theories and models originating in developed countries from the perspective of developing countries.…”

“…Similarly, prior research was conducted in developed nations, such as China (Chen et al, 2022), Korea (Kim and Hall, 2020) and Italy (Marchegiani, 2018;Valenza et al, 2023). For instance, Islam and Khan (2021) and Chen et al (2022) stated that it is profoundly essential to re-examine the theories and models originating in developed countries from the perspective of developing countries. Subsequently, the authors realize that crowdfunding research is scarce in emerging nations, and the pattern of crowdfunding adoption is still unexplored.…”

“…Second, previous studies on crowdfunding have been conducted on crowdfunding and customer retention (Baber, 2020), determinants of medical crowdfunding performance (Chen et al, 2022) and motivations behind backers' contributions (Baber and Fanea-Ivanovici, 2023). Specifically, limited articles validated the conceptual framework of crowdfunding adoption in the context of SME entrepreneurs in the NCR (India).…”

“…Despite this, the authors observe that minimal research has been conducted on the SME entrepreneurs' perspective. Similarly, prior research was conducted in developed nations, such as China (Chen et al. , 2022), Korea (Kim and Hall, 2020) and Italy (Marchegiani, 2018; Valenza et al.…”