Million dollar personality: a systematic literature review on personality in crowdfunding

Abstract

Expressed personality traits can play a pivotal role in convincing investors in crowdfunding. Our study answers the research question: What is the current body of knowledge regarding the relationship between personality factors and crowdfunding success and where are knowledge gaps where the literature is silent? In our literature review, we therefore analyze and categorize (1) the results provided by quantitative studies on the relationship between the personality of entrepreneurs and crowdfunding success and (2) the research gaps identified by the authors investigating personality in crowdfunding. We find that studies investigating the entrepreneur's personality, i.e. the Big Five, other baseline personality traits (self-efficacy, innovativeness, locus of control, and need for achievement) and the Dark Triad, find positive relationships between openness and crowdfunding success, while narcissism shows an inverted u-shaped relationship with crowdfunding success across articles. However, the effects of other personality traits on crowdfunding success are largely inconclusive. Further, we identify four main gaps in the literature. First, future studies should examine non-linear relationships between expressed personality traits and crowdfunding success. Second, there is a need for more studies that employ different methods like qualitative or mixed-method approaches. Third, replication studies in similar and different contexts are urgently needed. Fourth, a plurality of personality perspectives would strengthen future research (e.g., investor perspective, third party perspective). To our knowledge this is the first literature review of personality traits in crowdfunding. Our work aims to enrich our understanding of individual-level components in the underexplored alternative finance market.

The impact of common success factors on overfunding in reward-based crowdfunding: An explorative study and avenues for future research

“…Considering a more subjective dimension concerning the implied signals involved in these factors, the entrepreneurial passion demonstrated by the founders, for instance, in their pitch videos or through the project description (Li et al, 2017), or even displays of narcissism , have been shown to motivate potential backers to support a project and increase crowdfunding performance. Moreover, a recent review on personality characteristics of project teams emphasizes the importance of personality traits for crowdfunding performance (Neuhaus et al, 2021), which might be perceived through the pitch video and the project description and taken into account by the crowd. These factors can thus constitute elements of different subsets of signals, as they can be employed through the pitch video, a basic quality indicator, or the project description, which can be assigned to signals referring to trust-building measures.…”

“…Appendix: Project success factors and suggested factors with a potential impact on project overfunding • Experience of project founders (crowdfunding or professional experience) • Internal social capital, positive psychological capital • Team composition (e.g., gender) • Personality characteristics Allison et al (2017), , Anglin, Wolfe, et al (2018), Davies and Giovannetti (2018), Neuhaus et al (2021), Ullah and Zhou (2020) Receiver (Crowd) Perspective Perception of project and of own contribution n.o.…”

Factors of customers’ channel choice in an omnichannel environment: a systematic literature review

“…To the end of comprehensively covering the relevant literature, we searched within three electronic literature databases: EBSCO Host, Scopus, and Web of Science (Kuckertz and Block 2021 ; Wanyama et al 2021 ). These databases are considered the most important and widely used within research in business and the social sciences and consequently find frequent use for SLRs within the business field (examples are Eckert and Hüsig 2022 ; Lu et al 2018b ; Neuhaus et al 2021 ; Tueanrat et al 2021 ).…”

Engaging the public or asking your friends? Analysing science-related crowdfunding using behavioural and survey data

“…Thus far, the role of backers’ personal characteristics has largely been ignored: A systematic review by Neuhaus et al (2022) identified no more than nine studies on the topic which, in addition, focus on very different characteristics. Given that we cannot deduce important antecedents from existing research, we focus on two personal characteristics presumably most closely related to motivations for crowdfunding: backers’ attitudes towards science and their experience with charitable giving and crowdfunding.…”