Communicating During Societal Crises: How Entrepreneurs’ Interactions with Backers Affect Fundraising via Crowdfunding
通过分析新冠疫情中的众筹活动和实验，发现企业家在危机中采用主动、关注他人个人关切的沟通策略能吸引更多资金。
We investigate how entrepreneurs communicate with crowdfunding backers during the onset of a societal crisis via a content analysis of campaigns active during the COVID-19 pandemic and a vignette experiment. While effective communication with stakeholders is critical for acquiring resources during societal crises, little is known about what communication strategies entrepreneurs use during these crises or their influence on fundraising. Notably, we find that entrepreneurs’ crisis communication strategies differ along three key dimensions: timing (proactive vs. reactive), target (entrepreneur vs. other), and nature (utilitarian vs. personal), and that proactively addressing other stakeholders’ personal concerns attracts more funding than alternative approaches.