Effect of Textual Features on the Success of Medical Crowdfunding: Model Development and Econometric Analysis from the Tencent Charity Platform

Abstract

Background Medical crowdfunding utilizes the internet to raise medical funds. Medical crowdfunding has developed rapidly worldwide; however, most medical crowdfunding projects fail to raise the targeted funds. Therefore, a very important research problem that has not received sufficient attention from the existing literature is identifying which factors affect the success of medical crowdfunding projects. Objective The aim of this study was to examine the effect of textual features of medical crowdfunding projects on their success rate using 4903 real projects from the Tencent Charity platform, a well-known medical crowdfunding platform in China. In particular, according to Aristotle’s theory of persuasion, we divided the project text of medical crowdfunding into the project title and project details, which were analyzed from two perspectives (existence and extent) to explore their respective impacts. Methods We established a research framework to meet our research goals. The process was divided into five main parts. We first collected data from Tencent Charity using Python programs and cleaned the datasets. Second, we selected variables and built the research model based on previous studies and the theory of persuasion. Next, the selected variables were extracted from the project text. We then performed econometric analysis using multiple regression analysis. Finally, we evaluated the results of econometric analysis to extract knowledge. Results In the project title, the presence of the patient’s disease (P=.04) and occupation (P=.01) had a positive impact on the success rate of fundraising, whereas the presence of age (P<.001), gender (P=.001), and negative emotions (P=.04) had a negative impact. In the project details, the presence of the patient’s occupation (P=.01), monetary evidence (P=.02), and negative emotions (P=.04) played a positive role in the fundraising success rate, whereas the presence of age (P<.001) and positive emotions (P<.001) played a negative role. Moreover, in the project details, high-frequency monetary evidence (P=.02) and negative words (P=.02), as well as a short narrative length (P=.01) were conducive to succeeding in medical crowdfunding. Younger patients were more likely to obtain a higher success rate in medical crowdfunding. For patients whose occupations were national civil servant, professional skill worker, clerk, business and service worker, solider, child, student, and public-spirited person, the success rate of fundraising decreased sequentially. Conclusions This study collected 4903 valid data from Tencent Charity, and identified which factors in the project text play an important role in the success rate of medical crowdfunding from the perspective of existence and extent. We found that in addition to the project details, the features of the project title also have an important impact on the success rate of fundraising. These findings provide important theoretical and managerial implications for medical crowdfunding.

Effect of Framing and Feedback Levels on Funding and Emotional Support in Medical Crowdfunding

“…More recently, studies have examined the factors that contribute to a medical crowdfunding campaign's fundraising performance. Ba et al (2021) and Zhang et al (2021) look at some of the determinants of medical crowdfunding campaign performance in China. They show that apart from social and demographic factors, the nature of the disease and the stage of the disease at diagnosis impact medical crowdfunding campaign performance.…”

“…Berliner & Kenworthy, 2017;Burtch & Chan, 2018;Snyder et al, 2016;Wu et al, 2022;Zhang et al, 2021). While scholarship in this area is still in its early stages, and have focused on understanding the usage (Berliner & Kenworthy, 2017;Vox et al, 2018), impacts (Burtch & Chan, 2018), potential consequences (Snyder, 2016;Snyder et al, 2016), and more recently determinants of medical crowdfunding performance (Ba et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021), we add to the stream examining the factors that contribute to a medical crowdfunding campaign's fundraising level. Precisely we show how the communication style in terms of the framing of the campaign narrative and regular feedback and communication affects funding level.…”

“…Burtch & Chan, 2018) potential consequences (e.g. Snyder, 2016;Snyder, Mathers, & Crooks, 2016), and have now started looking at some of the determinants of performance (Ba, Zhao, Song, & Zhu, 2021;Zhang, Xue, Li, Li, & Liu, 2021), we take the perspective of the campaign organizer to understand how the communication style might impact the funding level and emotional support. Second, our study also contributes to the literature on framing effects.…”

Predicting the Success of Internet Social Welfare Crowdfunding Based on Text Information

“…The basic data of 1249 crowdfunding projects were collected. Repeated projects were excluded, as were projects whose actual crowdfunding amount was greater than the fundraising goal, which is the targeted fundraising amount set by the fundraiser according to the consideration of potential donors [57]. Finally, 1239 crowdfunding projects were used as raw data.…”

Factors influencing the prescription pattern of essential medicines from the perspectives of general practitioners and patients: a qualitative study in China

“…Second, health insurance deductibles (ie, an amount of money that an insured person pays out of pocket before the medical insurance begins paying the covered medical services) have been set up for each type of medical insurance, including UEBMI, URRBMI and commercial medical insurance. Finally, some medications are not covered by the basic medical insurance system (eg, some imported medications for cancer treatment) 19 ; moreover, only 6.9% of people purchased commercial medical insurance in China in 2013. 20…”