The Effect of Herding Behaviors on Dual-Route Processing of Communications Aimed at Tourism Crowdfunding Ventures

Communications can be integral in persuading funders to invest in visitor economy crowdfunding. Despite the important role of diverse communications on consumer persuasion, research on the effectiveness of persuasive communications related to crowdfunding ventures has been limited. To bridge the gap, this study aims to verify an elaboration likelihood model to better understand the role of dual-route persuasive communications. Seven hypotheses related to argument quality, source credibility, benefit of crowdfunding, attachment to fundraiser and platform, and continued crowdfunding were examined, using herding behavior as a moderator. The findings revealed that argument quality had a substantial impact on benefit. Further, source credibility was found to have positive impacts on benefit and attachment; benefit had a significant effect on attachment and continued crowdfunding, and attachment had the strongest influence on continued crowdfunding. Additionally, herding behavior was found to moderate five of the six hypotheses.