Rational or Impulsive? Early Backers’ Investment Behavior in Agri-Food Crowdfunding from 4P–4C Perspectives

Abstract

Lack of funds and poor agricultural-product sales are the main problems that limit agricultural development, which can be well solved by agri-food crowdfunding. How to attract more backers to invest in the early stage of a project is extremely crucial for agri-food crowdfunding. Using a unique sample comprising 1,136 agri-food crowdfunding campaigns on Crowdfunding Net, among the most influential crowdfunding platforms in China, a model is constructed that includes the five dimensions of people, product, promotion, cost, and convenience. Drawing on the classic 4P and 4C marketing theories, multiple regression analysis is used to examine the mechanism through which a project’s presentation information influences the number of early backers. The results reveal that the factors in the three dimensions of people, product, and convenience positively impact the number of early backers in agri-food crowdfunding. In contrast, the cost-dimension factor is negatively related to the number of early backers. The promotion-dimension factors fail to pass the significance test. Additionally, the number of first-day backers partially moderates the effect of the initiator category, investment threshold, and lottery on the number of early backers. The effects of the trademark registration and number of reward categories on the number of early backers are completely moderated by the number of first-day backers. The evidence also shows that early backers’ rational investment decisions are based on reliable information and lucrative rewards. The research conclusions offer practical enlightenment for initiators, crowd-funding platforms, and regulators in the agri-food crowdfunding industry.