Linguistic Style and Crowdfunding: Moving the Current Debate Forward

This chapter provides an overview of the key insights from recent studies concerning the relevance of linguistic style for the success of crowdfunding campaigns, an emerging phenomenon of unconventional financing methods for entrepreneurial projects. In this study we evidenced how the language used by entrepreneurs to attract funds is crucial for the success of the crowdfunding campaign because it affects the information asymmetries surrounding the project. Additionally, we propose new possible streams of research concerning the role of linguistic style on the success of funding campaigns. We identify promising research directions, based on preliminary results, regarding the influence of repetitive words and different linguistic models on crowdfunding success. Overall, this chapter evidences, based on the state of the art of scientific studies, the importance of considering narrative style when entrepreneurs decide to start a new crowdfunding campaign, and paves the way for interesting future research that may be conducted.