Determinants of Perceived Crowdfunding Success among Student Entrepreneurs in China: An SEM Mediation Analysis
-
Han Bing LI Graduate School of Management, Management & Science University, Selangor, Malaysia College, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province Nanjing University of Finance & Economics Hongshan, Jiangsu, China
-
S. M. Ferdous AZAM Graduate School of Management, Management & Science University, Selangor, Malaysia
College student entrepreneurs face a persistent financing constraint, yet the mechanism through which project, platform, and risk-management signals translate into perceived crowdfunding success remains under-explored in China. This study examines how basic project information, crowdfunding platform characteristics, and risk disclosure and control affect perceived crowdfunding success among student entrepreneurs through the mediating mechanism of investors' willingness to participate. Using survey data from 670 college students in Jiangsu Province, China, all of whom had crowdfunding participation experience and entrepreneurial experience, the study applies structural equation modelling (SEM) with SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 23.0 to estimate the relationships among latent constructs and uses 5,000-sample Bootstrap testing with 95% confidence intervals to verify indirect effects.
The findings show that basic project information (β = 0.196, p < 0.001), crowdfunding platform characteristics (β = 0.104, p < 0.01), and risk disclosure and control (β = 0.174, p < 0.01) significantly enhance perceived crowdfunding success. They also significantly improve investors' willingness to participate, which itself has the strongest direct effect on perceived crowdfunding success (β = 0.486, p < 0.001). Bootstrap results further confirm that investor willingness partially mediates the effects of project information, platform characteristics, and risk disclosure and control, with indirect effects of 0.150, 0.080, and 0.108, respectively.
The study contributes to crowdfunding and digital entrepreneurial finance research by integrating project-, platform-, and risk-based determinants within a single SEM mediation framework and by offering China-based empirical evidence on the psychological mechanism linking external crowdfunding signals to entrepreneurial perceived funding outcomes.
Copyright© 2026 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the license CC-BY 4.0., which permits any further distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Article's History: Received 29th of July, 2026; Revised 2nd of September, 2026; Accepted 25th of September, 2026; Available online: 30th of September, 2026. Published as research article in the Volume XXI, Fall, Issue 4(94), 2026.
Li, H. B., Khatibi, A., Azam, F.S.M. (2026). Determinants of Perceived Crowdfunding Success among Student Entrepreneurs in China: An SEM Mediation Analysis. Journal of Applied Economic Sciences, Volume XXI, Fall, 4(94), 1489-1516. https://doi.org/10.57017/jaes.v21.4(94).20
CRediT Author Statement: Hanbing Li: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing – original draft. Ali Khatibi: Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing. S. M. Ferdous Azam: Supervision, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing.
Acknowledgments: The authors gratefully acknowledge the students who participated in the survey and contributed their time to this research.
Funding: The authors declare that this research received no external funding.
Data Availability Statement: The anonymised survey data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, subject to applicable institutional and privacy requirements.
Ethical Approval Statement: This study involved an anonymous questionnaire survey. Participation was voluntary, informed consent was obtained before completion, and the study was conducted in accordance with applicable institutional ethical requirements.
Agrawal, A., Catalini, C., & Goldfarb, A. (2015). Crowdfunding: Geography, social networks, and the timing of investment decisions. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, 24(2), 253–274. https://doi.org/10.1111/jems.12093
Ahlers, G. K. C., Cumming, D., Günther, C., & Schweizer, D. (2015). Signalling in equity crowdfunding. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 39(4), 955–980. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12157
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behaviour. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 179–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90020-T
Alharbey, A., & Van Hemmen, A. (2021). Investor intention in equity crowdfunding: Does trust matter? Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 14(2), 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14020053
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.2013.07.002
Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107(2), 238–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238
Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1992). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. Sociological Methods & Research, 21(2), 230–258. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124192021002005
Courtney, C., Dutta, S., & Li, Y. (2017). Resolving information asymmetry: Signaling, endorsement, and crowdfunding success. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 41(2), 265–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/etap.12267
Davis, B. C., Hmieleski, K. M., Webb, J. W., & Coombs, J. E. (2017). Funders’ positive affective reactions to entrepreneurs’ crowdfunding pitches: The influence of perceived product creativity and entrepreneurial passion. Journal of Business Venturing, 32(1), 90–106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2016.10.001
Davis, F. D., Bagozzi, R. P., & Warshaw, P. R. (1989). User acceptance of computer technology: A comparison of two theoretical models. Management Science, 35(8), 982–1003. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.35.8.982
Elrashidy, Z., Haniffa, R., Sherif, M., & Baroudi, S. (2024). Determinants of reward crowdfunding success: Evidence from the Covid-19 pandemic. Technovation, 132, 102985. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2024.102985
Fernandez-Blanco, A., Villanueva-Balsera, J. L., Rodriguez-Montequin, M. C., & Moran-Palacios, J. (2020). Key factors for project crowdfunding success: An empirical study. Sustainability, 12(2), 599. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12020599
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Hoque, M. M. (2024). Crowdfunding for innovation: A comprehensive empirical review. Future Business Journal, 10, Article 90. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43093-024-00387-5
Huang, S., Pickernell, D., Battisti, M., & Nguyen, T. (2022). Signalling entrepreneurs’ credibility and project quality for crowdfunding success: Cases from the Kickstarter and Indiegogo environments. Small Business Economics, 58(4), 1801–1821. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-021-00477-6
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), Münster, Germany. https://doi.org/10.18151/7217393
Lin, M., & Viswanathan, S. (2015). Home bias in online investments: An empirical study of an online crowdfunding market. Management Science, 62(5), 1393–1414. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2015.2206
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
Marsh, H. W., & Hocevar, D. (1985). Application of confirmatory factor analysis to the study of self-concept: First- and higher-order factor models and their invariance across groups. Psychological Bulletin, 97(3), 562–582. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.97.3.562
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
Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill.
Pallant, J. (2001). SPSS survival manual: A step by step guide to data analysis using SPSS for Windows. Open University Press.
Shafi, K. (2021). Investors’ evaluation criteria in equity crowdfunding. Small Business Economics, 56(1), 3–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00227-9
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
Spence, M. (1973). Job market signalling. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87(3), 355–374. https://doi.org/10.2307/1882010
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1996). Using Multivariate Statistics. HarperCollins.
Venkatesh, V., Morris, M. G., Davis, G. B., & Davis, F. D. (2003). User acceptance of information technology: Toward a unified view. MIS Quarterly, 27(3), 425–478. https://doi.org/10.2307/30036540
Westerlund, M., Singh, I., Rajahonka, M., & Leminen, S. (2021). Technology project summaries as a predictor of crowdfunding success. Technology Innovation Management Review, 11(11/12), 33–44. https://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1472
Xu, D., Hong, H., Deng, L., & Zhang, X. (2026). Crowdfunding success factors: A meta-analytic investigation. Information Systems Research, 37(1), 195–217. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0640
Yang, J. (2012). Data management and model analysis: STATA software application. Renmin University of China Press.