Do Timelines Matter? An Empirical Study Based on Reward-Based Crowdfunding

Abstract

This paper focuses on the effect of timelines in reward-based crowdfunding on its performance. Based on intertemporal choice theory, we adopted temporal framing as a theoretical lens and theorized and tested the effect of temporal framing set by founders in crowdfunding projects on their performance through its influence on consumer willingness to provide funds. We considered three temporal framing variables—temporal frequency, temporal vagueness, and temporal distance—which reflect the number of temporal cues, ambiguity or incompleteness of temporal cues, and the period from the end of a project to the estimated delivery time, respectively. We examined a sample of 20,604 technology reward-based crowdfunding projects on Kickstarter from 2009 to 2018, which revealed that the three variables individually and interactively influence project performance. We found that temporal frequency was positively related to project performance, whereas temporal vagueness and temporal distance were negatively related. Moreover, the interaction terms between temporal frequency and the other two temporal variables had negative impacts on project performance. These findings provide a deeper understanding of crowdfunding and reveal that temporal framing set by founders may affect the performance of crowdfunding projects.