Signals' flexibility and interaction with visual cues: Insights from crowdfunding

What's in a logo? The impact of complex visual cues in equity crowdfunding

“…Applied to our research context, perceptual fluency theory would predict that visual cues can influence backers' perceptions because backers draw on their subjective experience of (dis)fluency when making venture evaluations, even if these cues have no or low correlations with venture survival and profitability. These predictions are in line with recent research that shows that low validity cues can impact investors' decisions in various investment contexts (Chan and Park, 2015;Chan et al, 2018;Mollick, 2014;Scheaf et al, 2018;Townsend and Shu, 2010). Before further describing our conceptual framework, we discuss the importance of logos and reiterate our choice of investigating the impact of logos, as opposed to that of other types of low validity visual cues.…”

“…For example, Parhankangas and Renko (2017) use language expectancy theory to explain the effects of the linguistic style of crowdfunding pitches, Davis et al (2017) use affective events theory to explain the effects of perceived product creativity and entrepreneurial passion, and Allison et al (2017) use the elaboration likelihood model to explain the effects of entrepreneurial narratives. There is also evidence that low validity visual cues can impact the perceptions and funding decisions of investors (Chan and Park, 2015;Chan et al, 2018;Scheaf et al, 2018;Townsend and Shu, 2010). We add to this growing body of research by developing and testing a disfluency-based heuristic account for understanding the influence of low validity cues on equity-based crowdfunding platforms.…”

“…Even though virtually every early-stage entrepreneurial venture has a logo and investors have been found to react to visual cues (Chan and Park, 2015;Scheaf et al, 2018;Townsend and Shu, 2010), an important question that remains unanswered is whether logos can influence the perceptions and funding decisions of backers. In the context of crowdfunding, logos are low validity cues because their design does not provide information about a venture's underlying quality and has low or no perceived association with venture survival and profitability.…”

Predicting outcomes in crowdfunding campaigns with textual, visual, and linguistic signals

“…Only if the video induces a high attention state will individuals be willing to evaluate subsequently shown textual material, narratives, or schematics in more detail. Higher-quality videos lead potential consumers to form positive impressions about the entrepreneur and the campaign and may elevate the perception of other signals provided such as textual descriptions (Scheaf et al 2018).…”

The Evolution Process of Entrepreneurship Studies in the 21st Century: Research Insights From Top Business and Economics Journals

“…Crowdfunding is defined as entrepreneurs requesting financial support from a group of investors by initiating an open call from Internet‐based platforms (Walthoff‐Borm et al ., 2018, p. 514). Considering that many investors within crowdfunding may possess little investment experience and may head for nonfinancial rewards rather than an investment return (Scheaf et al ., 2018), crowdfunding changes the behaviors of entrepreneurs by reshaping linguistic style (Parhankangas and Renko, 2017) and by changing perception of signals and visual cues (Scheaf et al ., 2018). Another approach is blockchain tokens, as well as their application − digital currency (Bitcoin is a typical example).…”