Despite a growing body of research that has investigated the impacts of social effect on the amount pledged in crowdfunding, some questions remain unclear. How does herding behavior influence the performance in supplier innovation crowdfunding, and is such behavior rational? What are the primary mechanisms of herding behavior? Based on a panel data set from Kickstarter, we find that it is rational herding rather than information cascade that has a positive effect on the performance in supplier innovation crowdfunding, that is, later backers will combine their private information about projects with others’ contributions to make decisions. Prior contribution acts as the quality signal and affects the later crowdfunding performance. The empirical studies also testify that information asymmetries, word of mouth effect, network effect, and rational behavior are the primary mechanisms of herding in supplier innovation crowdfunding.

尽管有越来越多的研究调查了社会效应对众筹承诺金额的影响，但仍有一些问题尚不清楚。从众行为如何影响供应商创新众筹的绩效，这种行为是否合理？放牧行为的主要机制是什么？基于 Kickstarter 的一组面板数据，我们发现对供应商创新众筹的绩效产生积极影响的是理性羊群而不是信息级联，即后来的支持者会将他们关于项目的私人信息与其他人的贡献结合起来做决定。先前的贡献作为质量信号并影响后来的众筹表现。实证研究还证明，信息不对称、口碑效应、网络效应、