CRAFTING AN EFFECTIVE STORY: A NARRATIVE THEORY APPROACH TO ENTREPRENEURIAL FUNDRAISING IN CROWDFUNDING

The stories told by organizations have long played a critical role in furthering our understanding of organizational culture, the implementation of firm strategies, and the creation of new venture legitimacy. Recently, scholars have begun to establish important relationships between stories and the venture fundraising process. Drawing from narrative theory and research on organizational persuasion, this dissertation extends these literatures by examining how the inclusion of key elements associated with the structure of stories impacts funding outcomes for entrepreneurs raising capital through crowdfunding. Specifically, I examine the inclusion of a protagonist, temporal-spatial language, story focalization, elements of plot, and the inclusion of visual elements in 1000 crowdfunding appeals to provide insight into how entrepreneurs utilize elements of storytelling in their appeals for funding. I also explore the moderating role of objective information contending that objective information negatively moderates the influence of the elements of stories. Results suggest that crowdfunding campaigns that introduce a protagonist, use temporal-spatial language, craft an appeal from multiple perspectives, create conflict, and utilize more visuals can increase their funding performance. Objective information, however, does not reduce the importance of these story elements.