Project Attribute Information and Initiator’s Commitment in Crowdfunding Message Strategy: An Empirical Investigation of Financing Performance in Agri-Food Crowdfunding

Abstract

Agri-food crowdfunding, a new financing method, not only solves the financing constraints in agricultural development, but also realizes the effective connection between agricultural products and the market. Thus, exploring the impact of project factors on financing performance can help initiators design scientific and reasonable crowdfunding project plans. Based on the trust theory and the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), the trust mechanism is constructed with the characteristic attributes as the central path, the competitive attributes as the edge path, and the commitment as the mediator. Using the data of 1166 agri-food crowdfunding projects on the Taobao crowdfunding platform, I investigate the impact of disclosed project attribute information on financing performance and the mediating role of project risk. The results show that projects with a detailed explanation of the crowdfunding reason and the capital uses, a low funding goal, product qualification certificates issued by authoritative institutions, multiple types of rewards, a short reward delivery time, and a low investment threshold achieve good financing performance. The factor of commitment plays an intermediary role in the relationship between project attributes and financing performance. Based on the research conclusions, practical enlightenment is proposed for initiators, crowdfunding platforms, and regulators.