In recent years, entrepreneurs have increasingly turned to crowdfunding, a new form of entrepreneurial finance, to fund projects. Whilst research has shown that signals originating from the entrepreneur and project can affect the outcome of crowdfunding, how different signals work together under different signalling environments remains underexplored. Drawing on signalling theory, we examine how signals of entrepreneurs’ credibility (success, failure, backer and industry experience) and project quality (preparedness and third-party endorsements) produce crowdfunding success in different signalling environments. We collected a unique dataset with matched projects listed on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but with different funding models, to represent two distinct signalling environments. Results based on qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) identify two distinct signalling patterns that show entrepreneur’s credibility and project quality signals can complement each other to produce crowdfunding success. In an environment with less uncertainty, entrepreneur’s credibility in terms of crowdfunding experience can also compensate absent project quality to produce crowdfunding success. In an environment with higher uncertainty, entrepreneur’s credibility and project quality need to be both present to establish the necessary legitimacy for crowdfunding to be successful. Furthermore, by integrating positive (i.e. success) and negative (i.e. failure) signals, we demonstrate how signal incongruence can enhance crowdfunding success.

Plain English Summary Failure experience is an important signal in achieving crowdfunding success, but its effectiveness depends on other signals as well as the signalling environment. Our study shows how crowdfunding success can be achieved in multiple ways and that the path to success depends on the funding model of the platform used. For entrepreneurs to demonstrate credibility, backer experience and project preparedness are important. Both are under the control of the entrepreneur and well worth considering investing effort into. Importantly, the study also shows that demonstrating failure experience is important in achieving crowdfunding success. Failure experience can either replace the lack of prior success experience by demonstrating a track record of learning or it can enhance prior success experience by producing a more realistic picture of the entrepreneurs. Thus, the study offers practical implications for entrepreneurs on how to use different signals to increase the likelihood of success in reward-based crowdfunding.

近年来，企业家越来越多地使用众筹（一种新形式的企业融资）来为项目提供资金。尽管研究表明，来自企业家和项目的信号可能会影响众筹的结果，但是在不同的信号环境下，不同的信号如何协同工作仍未得到充分的研究。基于信号理论，我们研究了企业家的信誉（成功，失败，支持者和行业经验）和项目质量（准备和第三方认可）的信号如何在不同的信号环境中产生众筹成功。我们收集了一个独特的数据集，其中包含在Kickstarter和Indiegogo上列出的匹配项目，但是使用不同的资金模型来代表两个不同的信号环境。基于定性比较分析（QCA）的结果确定了两种不同的信号模式，这些模式表明企业家的信誉和项目质量信号可以相互补充以产生众筹成功。在不确定性较小的环境中，企业家在众筹经验方面的信誉也可以弥补缺乏的项目质量，从而无法成功实现众筹。在不确定性更高的环境中，企业家的信誉和项目质量必须同时存在，以建立必要的合法性，以使众筹获得成功。此外，通过整合正面（即成功）和负面（即失败）信号，我们证明了信号不一致会如何提高众筹成功率。

普通英语摘要失败经历是实现众筹成功的重要信号，但其有效性取决于其他信号以及信号环境。我们的研究表明，可以通过多种方式实现众筹成功，而成功的道路取决于所用平台的融资模式。为了使企业家表现出信誉，支持者的经验和项目准备很重要。两者都在企业家的控制之下，非常值得考虑投入精力。重要的是，该研究还表明，展示失败经验对于实现众筹成功至关重要。失败经验可以通过展示学习的跟踪记录来替代先前的成功经验的缺乏，也可以通过产生更真实的企业家形象来增强先前的成功经验。