The Language of Crowdfunding: An Exploratory Study of Entrepreneurial and Other Campaigns

Crowdfunding has become an attractive option to raise funds in recent years. Several studies have examined language use in crowdfunding campaigns, and a few have attempted to understand entrepreneurs' language use on these platforms precisely. All assume that those categorized as entrepreneuria...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of business communication (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) Vol. 61; no. 3; pp. 549 - 572
Main Authors Gerstner, Tara, Taylor, Kevin P., Moon, Leigh, Butski, Noelle
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2024
Subjects
entrepreneurship
language
LIWC
Kickstarter
crowdfunding
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Summary:Crowdfunding has become an attractive option to raise funds in recent years. Several studies have examined language use in crowdfunding campaigns, and a few have attempted to understand entrepreneurs' language use on these platforms precisely. All assume that those categorized as entrepreneurial are inherently different from those categorized as other. We aim to explore that assumption while adding to the growing body of literature on the use of language in crowdfunding. We examine how entrepreneurs use language differently than other creators on crowdfunding platforms and how language relates to successful and unsuccessful campaigns for entrepreneurs and other creators. Findings indicate differences in language usage exist between entrepreneurs and other creators and also between successful and unsuccessful campaigns for both groups. However, more than that information is needed to increase the possibility of funding. While there isn’t a magic formula for success, all crowdfunding campaigns appear to have the best chances by balancing the language they use.
ISSN:2329-4884
2329-4892
DOI:10.1177/23294884231183933