Vol. 12 No. 1 (2026)
March

Articles

Seducing the crowd: An LDA literature review on language in crowdfunding

Published 2026-03-31

  • Anna Fornalska
    • ,
  • Michał Suchanek
    • ,
  • Joanna Adamska
    • ,
  • Paula Gorszczyńska
    • ,
  • Urszula Mrzygłód

Anna Fornalska
IMC Krems University of Applied Sciences

Michał Suchanek
University of Gdansk

Joanna Adamska
University of Gdansk

Paula Gorszczyńska
University of Gdansk

Urszula Mrzygłód
University of Gdansk

Abstract

Objective: As crowdfunding continues to gain traction worldwide as an alternative financing method for entrepreneurs and social initiatives, the language used in campaign communications has become a critical factor influencing funding outcomes. Therefore, understanding how linguistic elements affect backer engagement and campaign success constitutes an increasingly important research area. This article aims to identify the dominant themes and emerging trends in academic research concerning the role of language in crowdfunding. We applied latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) to systematically explore how scholars have investigated linguistic features in crowdfunding-related studies and how this area has evolved.

Research Design & Methods: We applied an LDA topic model to the dynamically growing body of literature on the aspects of language in crowdfunding campaigns to identify the key research topics and find the most current avenues of further research. It is a stochastic-based approach. Therefore, it fits well with the analysis of short blocks of text such as article abstracts. We considered 143 papers from Scopus published on the topic since 2013 to identify the key trends in the contemporary research on language in crowdfunding.

Findings: We identified seven key topics, including: (1) language in crowdfunding success, (2) entrepreneurial narratives, (3) emotional language in social/medical campaigns, (4) gender in crowdfunding, (5) branding and linguistic strategies, (6) values in crowdfunding, and (7) ethical considerations. The analysis shows temporal shifts in topic prevalence, highlighting growing interest in interdisciplinary themes such as gender and values, while general or ethical-focused research has declined over time.

Implications & Recommendations: The study revealed a shift from basic linguistic metrics to more detailed explorations of identity, ethics, and emotional appeal. It recommends that fundraisers and platforms tailor communication strategies to match backer expectations and influence persuasive narratives. Crowdfunding platforms may enhance user support by integrating language analysis tools and offering narrative-building guidance.

Contribution & Value Added: This is the first known study to apply LDA topic modelling to academic literature on language use in crowdfunding. It provides a structured, data-driven mapping of the field’s development and offers insights into how language shapes crowdfunding outcomes. It contributes to both the crowdfunding literature and interdisciplinary research, linking linguistics, psychology, marketing and finance, underlining the international applicability of these findings.

Keywords

language, crowdfunding, Latent Dirichlet Allocation, Natural Language Processing, topic modelling

(PDF) Save

Author Biography

Anna Fornalska

PhD in Economics, professor at the IMC Krems University of Applied Sciences, Austria. Her research interests include alternative finance and socially sustainable development from the perspective of individual consumers and society as a whole.

Michał Suchanek

dr hab., associate professor at the University of Gdańsk, Poland. His research interests include transport economics, urban development and sustainability and evaluating policies related to transportation and their socio-economic effects.

Joanna Adamska

PhD, assistant professor at the University of Gdańsk, Poland. Her research interests include crowdfunding, alternative finance, social sustainability and community engagement.

Paula Gorszczyńska

PhD, assistant professor at the University of Gdańsk, Poland. Her research interests include linguistic and cognitive aspects of interpreting and translation, audio description, and crowdfunding discourse.

Urszula Mrzygłód

PhD, assistant professor at the University of Gdańsk, Poland. Her research interests include motivation to back crowdfunding and success factors in crowdfunding, as well as the dividend policy of companies listed on emerging stock markets.

References

  1. Adamska-Mieruszewska, J., Mrzygłód, U., Suchanek, M., & Fornalska-Skurczyńska, A. (2021). Keep it simple. The impact of language on crowdfunding success. Economics & Sociology, 14(1), 130-144. https://doi.org/10.14254/2071-789X.2021/14-1/9
  2. Albalawi, R., Yeap, T.H., & Benyoucef, M. (2020). Using Topic Modeling Methods for Short-Text Data: A Comparative Analysis. Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/frai.2020.00042
  3. Allison, T.H., Anglin, A.H., Davis, B.C., Oo, P., Seyb, S.K., Short, J.C., & Wolfe, M.T. (2024). Standing out in a crowd of victim entrepreneurs: How entrepreneurs’ language-based cues of personality traits affect public support. Journal of Small Business Management, 62(1), 447-486. https://doi.org/10.1080/00472778.2022.2056606
  4. Allison, T.H., Davis, B.C., Webb, J.W., & Short, J.C. (2017). Persuasion in crowdfunding: An elaboration likelihood model of crowdfunding performance. Journal of Business Venturing, 32(6), 707-725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2017.09.002
  5. Al-Qershi, O.M., Kwon, J., Zhao, S., & Li, Z. (2022). Predicting crowdfunding success with visuals and speech in video ads and text ads. European Journal of Marketing, 56(6), 1610-1649. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-01-2020-0029
  6. Andreoni, J. (1990). Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving. The Economic Journal, 100(401), 464. https://doi.org/10.2307/2234133
  7. Austin, J.L., Urmson, J.O., & Sbisa, M. (1977). How to do Things with Words, coll. « Oxford Paperbacks, 367 ». Revue Philosophique de La France Et de l’Etranger, 167(4).
  8. Belleflamme, P., Lambert, T., & Schwienbacher, A. (2014). Crowdfunding: Tapping the right crowd. Journal of Business Venturing, 29(5), 585-609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.07.003
  9. Berns, J.P., Figueroa-Armijos, M., da Motta Veiga, S.P., & Dunne, T.C. (2020). Dynamics of Lending-Based Prosocial Crowdfunding: Using a Social Responsibility Lens. Journal of Business Ethics, 161(1), 169–185. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3932-0
  10. Blei, D.M., & Lafferty, J.D. (2009). Topic Models. In A. Srivastava & M. Sahami (Eds.), Text Mining. Classification, Clustering, and Applications (1st ed.). Chapman & Hall.
  11. Blei, D.M., Ng, A.Y., & Jordan, M.I. (2003). Latent Dirichlet Allocation. Journal of Machine Learning Research, 3, 993-1022.
  12. Bollaert, H., Leboeuf, G., & Schwienbacher, A. (2020). The narcissism of crowdfunding entrepreneurs. Small Business Economics, 55(1), 57-76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00145-w
  13. Chaichi, N., & Anderson, T. (2019). Deploying Natural Language Processing to Extract Key Product Features of Crowdfunding Campaigns: The Case of 3D Printing Technologies on Kickstarter. 2019 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.23919/PICMET.2019.8893839
  14. Chauhan, U., & Shah, A. (2022). Topic Modeling Using Latent Dirichlet Allocation. ACM Computing Surveys, 54(7), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.1145/3462478
  15. Chen, J., Du, M., & Yang, X. (2024). How emotional cues affect the financing performance in rewarded crowdfunding? – an insight into multimodal data analysis. Electronic Commerce Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-024-09841-6
  16. Chen, J., Yang, X., & Du, M. (2023). Research on the Factors Influencing the Financing Performance of Rewarded Crowdfunding – Based on Project Multimodal Data Analysis (pp. 218-227). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32302-7_19
  17. De Crescenzo, V., Monfort, A., Felício, J.A., & Ribeiro-Navarrete, S. (2022). Communication and the role of third-party endorsement in social crowdfunding. The Service Industries Journal, 42(9-10), 770-797. https://doi.org/10.1080/02642069.2021.1963437
  18. De la Hoz-M, J., Fernández-Gómez, M.J., & Mendes, S. (2021). LDAShiny: An R Package for Exploratory Review of Scientific Literature Based on a Bayesian Probabilistic Model and Machine Learning Tools. Mathematics, 9(14), 1671. https://doi.org/10.3390/math9141671
  19. Deremetz, A. (2023). Diskussion und Reflexion (pp. 281-295). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-66319-6_15
  20. Gafni, H., Marom, D., Robb, A., & Sade, O. (2021). Gender Dynamics in Crowdfunding (Kickstarter): Evidence on Entrepreneurs, Backers, and Taste-Based Discrimination*. Review of Finance, 25(2), 235-274. https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfaa041
  21. Griffiths, T.L., Steyvers, M., & Tenenbaum, J.B. (2007). Topics in semantic representation. Psychological Review, 114(2), 211-244. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.2.211
  22. Hart, C. (2019). Spatial properties of ACTION verb semantics: Experimental evidence for image schema orientation in transitive versus reciprocal verbs and its implications for ideology. Cognitive linguistic approaches to text and discourse: From poetics to politics, 181-204.
  23. Herd, K.B., Mallapragada, G., & Narayan, V. (2022). Do Backer Affiliations Help or Hurt Crowdfunding Success?. Journal of Marketing, 86(5), 117-134. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429211031814
  24. Jakobson, R. (1960). Closing statement: Linguistics and poetics. In Style in Language (pp. 350-377). MIT Press.
  25. Jelodar, H., Wang, Y., Yuan, C., Feng, X., Jiang, X., Li, Y., & Zhao, L. (2019). Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) and topic modeling: models, applications, a survey. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 78(11), 15169-15211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-018-6894-4
  26. Jiang, C., Han, R., Xu, Q., & Liu, Y. (2020). The impact of soft information extracted from descriptive text on crowdfunding performance. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 43, 101002. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2020.101002
  27. Johan, S., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Quality revealing versus overstating in equity crowdfunding. Journal of Corporate Finance, 65, 101741. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2020.101741
  28. Jones, T., Doane, W., & Attbom, M. (2022). textmineR (R package) [Computer software]. Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=textmineR
  29. Kang, Y., Cai, Z., Tan, C.-W., Huang, Q., & Liu, H. (2020). Natural language processing (NLP) in management research: A literature review. Journal of Management Analytics, 7(2), 139-172. https://doi.org/10.1080/23270012.2020.1756939
  30. Kherwa, P., & Bansal, P. (2019). Empirical Evaluation of Inference Technique for Topic Models (pp. 237-246). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1708-8_22
  31. Khurana, D., Koli, A., Khatter, K., & Singh, S. (2023). Natural language processing: state of the art, current trends and challenges. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 82(3), 3713-3744. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-022-13428-4
  32. Kim, K., Park, J., Pan, Y., Zhang, K., & Zhang, X. (Michael). (2022). Risk Disclosure in Crowdfunding. Information Systems Research, 33(3), 1023-1041. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2021.1096
  33. Koch, J.-A., & Siering, M. (2015). Crowdfunding Success Factors: The Characteristics of Successfully Funded Projects on Crowdfunding Platforms. Proceedings of the 23rd European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2015).
  34. Koch, J.-A., & Siering, M. (2019). The recipe of successful crowdfunding campaigns. Electronic Markets, 29(4), 661-679. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-019-00357-8
  35. Koh, Y., Lee, M., Kim, J., & Yang, Y. (Yvonne). (2020). Successful restaurant crowdfunding: the role of linguistic style. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 32(10), 3051-3066. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-02-2020-0159
  36. Lagazio, C., & Querci, F. (2018). Exploring the multi-sided nature of crowdfunding campaign success. Journal of Business Research, 90, 318-324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.05.031
  37. Lee, C.H., Bian, Y., Karaouzene, R., & Suleiman, N. (2019). Examining the role of narratives in civic crowdfunding: linguistic style and message substance. Industrial Management & Data Systems, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print). https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-08-2018-0370
  38. Lee, S., Shafqat, W., & Kim, H. (2022). Backers Beware: Characteristics and Detection of Fraudulent Crowdfunding Campaigns. Sensors, 22(19), 7677. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22197677
  39. Li, H. (2015). Learning to Rank for Information Retrieval and Natural Language Processing. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02155-8
  40. Li, Q., & Qu, J. (2022). A novel BNB-NO-BK method for detecting fraudulent crowdfunding projects. Songklanakarin Journal of Science & Technology, 44(5), 1209-1219.
  41. Li, W., Yang, D., & Sun, Y. (2023). Analysis of text factors impacting donation behavior in public welfare crowdfunding projects. Human Systems Management, 42(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3233/HSM-220024
  42. Liu, Z., Ben, S., & Zhang, R. (2023). Factors Affecting Crowdfunding Success. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 63(2), 241-256. https://doi.org/10.1080/08874417.2022.2052379
  43. Lu, B., Xu, T., & Wang, Z. (2023). Signaling innovativeness in crowdfunding entrepreneurial narratives: the moderating roles of entrepreneurial passion and social endorsement. Internet Research, 33(2), 500-530. https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-03-2021-0155
  44. Luo, X., & Luo, B. (2017). Research on Environmental Crowdfunding Projects Based on Narrative Persuasion Theory. European Journal of Business and Management, 9(33), 99-105.
  45. McSweeney, J.J., McSweeney, K.T., Webb, J.W., & Devers, C.E. (2022). The right touch of pitch assertiveness: Examining entrepreneurs’ gender and project category fit in crowdfunding. Journal of Business Venturing, 37(4), 106223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2022.106223
  46. Mollick, E. (2014). The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study. Journal of Business Venturing, 29(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2013.06.005
  47. Moradi, M., & Badrinarayanan, V. (2021). The effects of brand prominence and narrative features on crowdfunding success for entrepreneurial aftermarket enterprises. Journal of Business Research, 124, 286-298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.12.002
  48. Moradi, M., Dass, M., Arnett, D., & Badrinarayanan, V. (2024). The time-varying effects of rhetorical signals in crowdfunding campaigns. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 52(2), 370-398. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-023-00943-5
  49. Naimi, A., Arenas, D., & Kickul, J.R. (2020). Too Emotional to Succeed: Entrepreneurial Storytelling in a Prosocial Setting. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2020(1), 19044. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2020.19044abstract
  50. Patel, P.C., Wolfe, MT., & Manikas, A.S. (2021). Talk is cheap?! The value of a ban on product simulations and renderings on a crowdfunding platform. Applied Economics, 53(44), 5068-5089. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2021.1915464
  51. Pekar, V., Candi, M., Beltagui, A., Stylos, N., & Liu, W. (2024). Explainable text-based features in predictive models of crowdfunding campaigns. Annals of Operations Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-023-05800-w
  52. Peng, L., Cui, G., Bao, Z., & Liu, S. (2022). Speaking the same language: the power of words in crowdfunding success and failure. Marketing Letters, 33(2), 311-323. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-021-09595-3
  53. Petterson, J., Buntine, W., Narayanamurthy, S., Caetano, T., & Smola, A. (2010). Word Features for Latent Dirichlet Allocation. In J. Lafferty, C. Williams, J. Shawe-Taylor, R. Zemel, & A. Culotta (Eds.), Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems (Vol. 23). Curran Associates, Inc. https://proceedings.neurips.cc/paper_files/paper/2010/file/db85e2590b6109813dafa101ceb2faeb-Paper.pdf
  54. Pinkow, F. (2023). Determinants of overfunding in reward-based crowdfunding. Electronic Commerce Research, 25(1), 155-192. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-023-09681-w
  55. Rama, A., Jiang, C., Johan, S., Liu, H., & Mai, Y. (2022). Religious and social narratives and crowdfunding success. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 80, 101595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intfin.2022.101595
  56. Rejeb, A., Rejeb, K., Appolloni, A., Treiblmaier, H., & Iranmanesh, M. (2024). Uncovering the themes and trends in crowdfunding research using Latent Dirichlet Allocation. Management Review Quarterly, 75(3), 2033-2066. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-024-00427-y
  57. Sbalchiero, S., & Eder, M. (2020). Topic modeling, long texts and the best number of topics. Some Problems and solutions. Quality & Quantity, 54(4), 1095-1108. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-020-00976-w
  58. Searle, J.R., & Vanderveken, D. (1985). Foundations of Illocutionary Logic (Issue 1). Cambridge University Press.
  59. Serwaah, P. (2022). Crowdfunding, gender and the promise of financial democracy: a systematic review. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 14(2), 263-283. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJGE-07-2021-0115
  60. Shneor, R., & Vik, A.A. (2020). Crowdfunding success: a systematic literature review 2010-2017. Baltic Journal of Management, 15(2), 149-182. https://doi.org/10.1108/BJM-04-2019-0148
  61. Shneor, R., Zhao, L., & Flåten, B.-T. (2020). Introduction: From Fundamentals to Advances in Crowdfunding Research and Practice. In Advances in Crowdfunding (pp. 1-18). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46309-0_1
  62. Short, J.C., Ketchen, D.J., McKenny, A.F., Allison, T.H., & Ireland, R.D. (2017). Research on Crowdfunding: Reviewing the (Very Recent) past and Celebrating the Present. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(2), 149-160. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12270
  63. Spence, M. (1974). Competitive and optimal responses to signals: An analysis of efficiency and distribution. Journal of Economic Theory, 7(3), 296-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0531(74)90098-2
  64. Tajvarpour, M.H., & Pujari, D. (2022). Bigger from a distance: The moderating role of spatial distance on the importance of traditional and rhetorical quality signals for transactions in crowdfunding. Decision Support Systems, 156, 113742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2022.113742
  65. Tosatto, J., Cox, J., & Nguyen, T. (2022). With a little help from my friends: The role of online creator-fan communication channels in the success of creative crowdfunding campaigns. Computers in Human Behavior, 127, 107005. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107005
  66. Wan Mohamad Nazarie, W.N.F., & Williams, R. (2021). Linguistic style and gender match in funding intention towards crowdfunding project. Review of International Business and Strategy, 31(3), 438-461. https://doi.org/10.1108/RIBS-09-2020-0111
  67. Wang, Y., Li, Y., Wu, J., Ling, L., & Long, D. (2023). Does digitalization sufficiently empower female entrepreneurs? Evidence from their online gender identities and crowdfunding performance. Small Business Economics, 61(1), 325-348. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-022-00690-x
  68. Zhang, X., Tao, X., Ji, B., Wang, R., & Sörensen, S. (2023). The Success of Cancer Crowdfunding Campaigns: Project and Text Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 25, e44197. https://doi.org/10.2196/44197
  69. Zhang, X., Wang, X., Wang, D., Xiao, Q., & Deng, Z. (2024). How the linguistic style of medical crowdfunding charitable appeal influences individuals’ donations. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 203, 123394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123394
  70. Zhao, L., & Ryu, S. (2020). Reward-Based Crowdfunding Research and Practice. In Advances in Crowdfunding (pp. 119-143). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46309-0_6
  71. Zihagh, F., Moradi, M., & Badrinarayanan, V. (2024). A brand prominence perspective on crowdfunding success for aftermarket offerings: the role of textual and visual brand elements. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 33(1), 91-107. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-06-2023-4553

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Similar Articles

1-10 of 54

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.