The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance

Abstract

We extend the entrepreneurship literature to include positive psychological capital — an individual or organization's level of psychological resources consisting of hope, optimism, resilience, and confidence — as a salient signal in crowdfunding. We draw from the costless signaling literature to argue that positive psychological capital language usage enhances crowdfunding performance. We examine 1726 crowdfunding campaigns from Kickstarter, finding that entrepreneurs conveying positive psychological capital experience superior fundraising performance. Human capital moderates this relationship while social capital does not, suggesting that costly signals may, at times, enhance the influence of costless signals. Post hoc analyses suggest findings generalize across crowdfunding types, but not to IPOs.

Publication Date

7-1-2018

Publication Title

Journal of Business Venturing

Volume

33

Issue

4

Number of Pages

470-492

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2018.03.003

Socpus ID

85047900670 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85047900670

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