Can ordinary consumers be persuaded to choose reward-based crowdfunding over retail purchase to own new technologies? To investigate, we developed a C2P (consumer-to-patron) Persuasion Model and tested it using mixed-factorial experimental design. Results showed positive influence of crowdfunding discounts on consumers’ likelihood to fund/refer which was negatively moderated by the expected waiting time to receive product. Affective cues helped with getting referrals but not donations. Technology attractiveness and price, along with consumers’ gender and risk-propensity had significant influences. Based on the findings, we recommend technopreneurs to consciously target ordinary consumers for funding, and e-commerce and crowdfunding platforms to form design synergies.

能否说服普通消费者选择基于奖励的众筹而不是零售购买来拥有新技术？为了进行调查，我们开发了一个 C2P（消费者对顾客）说服模型，并使用混合因素实验设计对其进行了测试。结果显示，众筹折扣对消费者资助/推荐的可能性有积极影响，而预期等待接收产品的时间对这种影响产生了负面影响。情感暗示有助于获得推荐而不是捐款。技术吸引力和价格，以及消费者的性别和风险倾向都有显着影响。根据调查结果，我们建议科技创业者有意识地针对普通消费者进行融资，电商和众筹平台形成设计协同效应。