The golden-mean fallacy: A medium-attractiveness face predicts less funding on a crowdfunding platform

Abstract

We examine the effects of facial attractiveness stereotyping in reward-based crowdfunding decisions. Our findings indicate that to a certain extent, a project creator's facial attractiveness is a valid heuristic cue that influences the evaluation of the project's future potential. Based on a large dataset, we propose a U-shaped relationship between project creators’ facial attractiveness and crowdfunding performance. The results imply that potential backers believe that projects initiated by creators whose facial attractiveness is either high or low (vs. medium) have greater future potential, leading to better crowdfunding performance. Additionally, we find that the effects of attractiveness are moderated by the narrative person used in the project introduction and by project updates on the project's progress schedule. Specifically, the U-shaped effect is stronger when attractive (vs. less attractive) project creators describe their projects in first- (vs. third-) person narration, and the effects of facial attractiveness are also enhanced by project updates. Our findings suggest that facial attractiveness is an actionable funding tool, thereby extending our understanding of the complex effect of facial attractiveness in funding.