The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted global economies, making traditional funding sources difficult to access for entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding emerged as an alternative, experiencing substantial growth during this period. This study investigates the role of social influence on crowdfunding success, focusing on how the relationship between social networks and crowdfunding performance shifted during the pandemic. The research uses data from 467 crowdfunding campaigns on the Spanish platform Goteo, spanning the pre-pandemic (January 2019 – January 2020) and pandemic periods (February 2020 – December 2020). The study hypothesizes that factors such as founder attributes and communication strategies will significantly impact fundraising performance, and that the relative importance of these factors changed during the COVID-19 crisis.

The literature review examines existing research on crowdfunding performance and social influence. Studies show that crowdfunding success depends on factors such as project attractiveness, communication effectiveness, and the number of early contributors. Several studies highlight the importance of social media in influencing investor decisions, with the number of followers and project reviews being significant predictors of crowdfunding success. However, the specific role of social influence during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic remains under-researched. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating how social influence mechanisms impacted crowdfunding performance during the pandemic.

The study uses a dataset of 467 crowdfunding campaigns from the Spanish platform Goteo, collected manually and covering the period from January 2019 to December 2020. The dataset is divided into pre-pandemic (253 projects) and pandemic (214 projects) periods. Crowdfunding performance is measured using three metrics: the number of investors (log-transformed), fundraising success (binary variable indicating whether the funding goal was met), and funding rate (percentage of funding goal achieved). The study examines the impact of several independent variables, including the project initiator's number of followers, the founder's dynamism on social media, the number of comments exchanged between the founder and potential investors. Control variables include project size (funding goal), the number of project updates, the campaign's launch period (pre/during pandemic), and project type (social vs. non-social). Negative binomial regression, logistic regression, and OLS regression were used to analyze the data, with robust standard errors employed to address potential heteroscedasticity.

The analysis reveals a positive relationship between the project initiator's digital reputation (measured by follower count and social media dynamism) and crowdfunding performance across all three performance metrics (number of investors, success, and funding rate). Similarly, communication strategies (measured by the number of comments) also positively influenced performance. The control variables showed that investors preferred smaller, less ambitious projects, and that frequent project updates positively correlated with the number of investors. Projects launched during the pandemic were less likely to succeed. Comparing pre- and during-pandemic periods, the study demonstrates that the importance of the founder's follower count diminished during the pandemic, while the influence of founder dynamism and the number of comments increased significantly. During the pandemic, investors showed a greater preference for social projects, suggesting a shift in investment priorities due to the heightened social awareness and risk aversion during the crisis.

The findings confirm the importance of social influence in crowdfunding, particularly highlighting the increased significance of founder dynamism and active communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. The decreased reliance on follower count suggests that during uncertain times, investors place more emphasis on active engagement and information sharing. The heightened preference for social projects reflects a shift in investment behavior toward initiatives perceived as more socially responsible and potentially less risky during the crisis. This research adds to the understanding of crowdfunding dynamics by demonstrating how the relative importance of different social influence factors can change under conditions of economic uncertainty and heightened societal concerns.

This study demonstrates the evolving role of social influence in crowdfunding performance, particularly during times of crisis. Founder dynamism and active communication proved more crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic, while investor preferences shifted towards smaller, socially responsible projects. Future research could explore broader geographic contexts, differentiate between types of social ties, and develop more nuanced measures of investor behavior.

The study's focus on a single Spanish crowdfunding platform might limit the generalizability of the findings. Further research incorporating data from other platforms and countries is needed to validate the results. The study also treats all social ties similarly, neglecting to distinguish between various types of relationships. Future work could explore different types of social connections and their respective impacts on crowdfunding success.