The Attraction Effect in Crowdfunding

Weinmann, M., Mishra, A. N., Kaiser, L. F., vom Brocke, J. (2022). The attraction effect in crowdfunding. Information Systems Research, forthcoming.

49 Pages Posted: 11 Jul 2020 Last revised: 14 Jul 2022

See all articles by Markus Weinmann

Markus Weinmann

University of Cologne; Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

Abhay Mishra

Iowa State University

Lena Kaiser

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Jan vom Brocke

University of Liechtenstein

Date Written: June 18, 2020

Abstract

At the core of reward-based crowdfunding (RBC) is the reward menu. Carefully-constructed reward menus can impact fundraising success significantly. For example, an oft-discussed approach to influencing purchasing decisions is introducing an irrelevant option into a consumer’s choice set—a decoy option—making another, often more valuable, option more attractive. This phenomenon is also known as the attraction effect. Prior research, however, has found mixed evidence for its occurrence in applied settings because it largely employed simplified attribute presentation—with only numeric attributes such as ratings—and hypothetical choices, which had no economic consequences. Hence, researchers questioned the practical significance of the attraction effect. In this paper, we examine if the attraction effect will manifest in applied settings—crowdfunding context, where product attributes are both numerical (e.g., price) and nonnumerical (e.g., content of a product), choices have economic consequences, and organizations offer several menu options to consumers. We draw upon the salience theory and propose four hypotheses, suggesting that introducing an irrelevant decoy option in choice sets, created digitally in reward menus, may lead backers to choose higher-priced options. We conducted seven online experiments and a field study on Kickstarter (in total N = 3, 998 participants), with increasing levels of similarity with RBC. We found that the attraction effect significantly shifted backers’ preferences from a low-priced to a high-priced reward by 18.8 to 28.2 percent in different settings, highlighting the substantial potential of properly designed digital reward menus to influence funders’ choices. Given that researchers have expressed skepticism about the attraction effect in applied settings, our results are particularly significant, suggesting that information systems design can influence choice behavior. This research makes targeted contributions to the literature on crowdfunding, the attraction effect, and digital design.

Keywords: Attraction Effect, Crowdfunding, Salience Theory, Menu Design, Behavioral Economics, Digital Markets

JEL Classification: M15, M13, D03, D12, L26

Suggested Citation

Weinmann, Markus and Mishra, Abhay and Kaiser, Lena and vom Brocke, Jan, The Attraction Effect in Crowdfunding (June 18, 2020). Weinmann, M., Mishra, A. N., Kaiser, L. F., vom Brocke, J. (2022). The attraction effect in crowdfunding. Information Systems Research, forthcoming., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3630514 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3630514

Markus Weinmann

University of Cologne ( email )

Albertus-Magnus-Platz
Cologne, 50923
Germany

Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

Abhay Mishra (Contact Author)

Iowa State University ( email )

Ames, IA 50011-2063
United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.ivybusiness.iastate.edu/directory/abhay/

Lena Kaiser

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Jan Vom Brocke

University of Liechtenstein ( email )

Fuerst Franz Josef-Strasse
Vaduz, 9490
Liechtenstein

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
215
Abstract Views
1,345
Rank
258,231
PlumX Metrics