The Effect of Herding Behaviors on Dual-Route Processing of Communications Aimed at Tourism Crowdfunding Ventures

Abstract

Communications can be integral in persuading funders to invest in visitor economy crowdfunding. Despite the important role of diverse communications on consumer persuasion, research on the effectiveness of persuasive communications related to crowdfunding ventures has been limited. To bridge the gap, this study aims to verify an elaboration likelihood model to better understand the role of dual-route persuasive communications. Seven hypotheses related to argument quality, source credibility, benefit of crowdfunding, attachment to fundraiser and platform, and continued crowdfunding were examined, using herding behavior as a moderator. The findings revealed that argument quality had a substantial impact on benefit. Further, source credibility was found to have positive impacts on benefit and attachment; benefit had a significant effect on attachment and continued crowdfunding, and attachment had the strongest influence on continued crowdfunding. Additionally, herding behavior was found to moderate five of the six hypotheses.

Behavioral Influences on Crowdfunding SDG Initiatives: The Importance of Personality and Subjective Well-Being

“…In reward-based crowdfunding, funder attachment to a project plays a main role in determining potential funders' intentions to invest in a project [44]. In tourism online crowdfunding ventures, sponsor attachment to fundraisers and platforms has a significant impact on participation [69]. Research has also found that online site attachment is an important mediator between value and trust as well as altruism and loyalty in ecommerce situations [29].…”

“…From online tourism group-buying, the perceived value of an online grouping site's products or services significantly lead to attachment to the group buying site [29]. Furthermore, attachment to crowdfunding significantly mediates the relationship between source credibility and continued crowdfunding [69], implying that value can directly influence attachment. Therefore, this study posits the following hypothesis:…”

“…An example of pro-social behavior on SDGs is: "Participating in the SDGs is an ethically right action." The five items addressing attachment to sustainability crowdfunding were slightly modified from Bowlby [65], Herrero et al [44], and Kim and Petrick [69], with an example statement being: "I have been deeply involved in participating in crowdfunding for sustainability." Five items related to subjective well-being were derived from previous literature [71,[76][77][78], with an example statement being: "Financially supporting crowdfunding for sustainability is part of my ideal life."…”

How COVID-19 Triggers Our Herding Behavior? Risk Perception, State Anxiety, and Trust

“…Previous studies on herding effects focused on investing in the stock market ( 24 , 25 ), herding behavior in online peer-to-peer lending ( 26 ), and consumers' herd consumption behavior ( 27 ). Research on herding behavior in public health has been limited.…”

Sustainability and Real Estate Crowdfunding: Success Factors

“…In this sense and following [47], the implications of this study can go further, causing the information from entrepreneurs to include detailed messages with clear, convincing descriptions of the quality of the products sold and promises related to the credibility of the project managers.…”