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
Copyright Status
Unknown
Socpus ID
85047900670 (Scopus)
Source API URL
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85047900670
STARS Citation
Anglin, Aaron H.; Short, Jeremy C.; Drover, Will; Stevenson, Regan M.; and McKenny, Aaron F., "The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance" (2018). Scopus Export 2015-2019. 10689.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/scopus2015/10689