As crowdfunding success relies heavily on designing campaigns that attempt to influence potential backers within a fixed time frame, this study leverages signaling theory to explore the time-varying direct and interactive effects of rhetorical (i.e., emotional tone, cognitive tone, communal language style, and linguistic style match) and substantive (i.e., backer support) signals employed in project descriptions on funding formation. Using linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC) and functional data analysis (FDA), we analyze data on 1245 projects from a rewards-based crowdfunding platform (Kickstarter) and demonstrate that (a) the four rhetorical signals are positively related to funding formation, (b) emotional and cognitive tone exert stronger effects in early phases of projects, whereas linguistic style match and communal language style exert stronger effects in later phases, and (c) the dynamic effects of rhetorical signals on funding formation are greater when the number of backers increases. We conclude with implications for crowdfunding research and insights for improving campaign success.

由于众筹的成功在很大程度上依赖于试图在固定时间范围内影响潜在支持者的活动设计，因此本研究利用信号理论来探索修辞（即情绪基调、认知基调、公共语言风格、和语言风格匹配）和实质性（即支持者支持）信号在关于资金形成的项目描述中使用。使用语言查询和字数统计 (LIWC) 和功能数据分析 (FDA)，我们分析了来自基于奖励的众筹平台 (Kickstarter) 的 1245 个项目的数据，并证明 (a) 四种修辞信号与资金形成正相关， (b) 情绪和认知基调在项目的早期阶段发挥更强的作用，而语言风格匹配和公共语言风格在后期发挥更强的作用，并且（c）当支持者数量增加时，修辞信号对资金形成的动态影响更大。我们总结了众筹研究的意义和提高竞选成功的见解。