International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Article The Influence of Signals on Donation Crowdfunding Campaign Success during COVID-19 Crisis Han-Chiang Ho , Candy Lim Chiu *, Somkiat Mansumitrchai, Zhengqing Yuan, Nan Zhao and Jiajie Zou College of Business and Public Management (CBPM), Wenzhou-Kean University, Wenzhou 325060, China;
[email protected] (H.-C.H.);
[email protected] (S.M.);
[email protected] (Z.Y.);
[email protected] (N.Z.);
[email protected] (J.Z.) * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic devasted public health agencies and the federal govern- ment across the world. Bridging the gap between underserved populations and the healthcare system, the donation-based crowdfunding campaign has opened a new way for suffering individuals and families to access broader social network platforms for financial and non-financial assistance. Despite the growing popularity of crowdfunding during the pandemic crisis, little research has explored the various signals that attract potential donors to donate. This study explores the effects of signaling theory on the success of a crowdfunding campaign for food relief launched in GoFundMe during which the United States was severely affected by the pandemic with a surged number of coronavirus infected cases from March 1st with 134 confirmed COVID-19 infected cases to July 29th with 4,295,308 infected cases according to World Health Organization. The following results show that the three different signal success measures are important to the success of crowdfunding campaigns: (1) signals originating from the campaign (Title, Description, Spelling Error, Location, and Picture); (2) signals Citation: Ho, H.-C.; Chiu, C.L.; originating from the fundraiser (Social Network, and Update); and (3) signals originating from the Mansumitrchai, S.; Yuan, Z.; Zhao, N.; social interaction of the fundraiser with the crowd (Comment, Follower, and Share).