Fear and egoism, sadness and altruism: how negative textual emotions affect project outcomes in medical crowdfunding

Purpose Prior studies on negative textual emotions in medical crowdfunding have yielded inconsistent findings and have largely neglected two critical dimensions of the total funding amount: the number of donors (i.e. donation likelihood) and the amount per donor (i.e. donation amount), as well as relevant boundary conditions. This study investigates the impact of fear and sadness conveyed in the project text on these two dimensions, examines their mediating roles on in determining the total funding amount and explores the moderating effect of the project monetary goal. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on theories of fear and sadness expression and donation motivation, we developed a research model and tested it using text analysis and econometric methods on data from a leading medical crowdfunding platform in China. Findings Our findings indicate that fear increases the number of donors while decreasing the average donation amount, whereas sadness reduces the number of donors but increases the donation amount per donor. These dimensions mediate the effects of fear and sadness on the total funds raised. Moreover, a high project monetary goal diminishes both the positive influence of fear on donor count and its negative impact on the average donation amount. Originality/value This study demonstrates that the negative emotions of fear and sadness exert opposing effects on donor numbers and the amount per donor in medical crowdfunding. Furthermore, it elucidates the mechanisms by which these emotions influence the total funding amount raised and reveals the contingent role of the project's monetary goal. These findings provide practical insights for optimizing emotional communication strategies in medical crowdfunding.