Crystal Clear? A Contingency Perspective on the Use of Metaphorical Communication and Language Concreteness in an Equity Crowdfunding Setting

Particularly in noisy signaling environments, managerial communication has important consequences for organizations. Yet, these consequences can be very different, and rhetorical signals have been shown to be able to create as well as destroy value for firms. To improve our understanding of the conditions that make rhetoric a value-adding versus value-destroying exercise, we examine the simultaneous application in an equity crowdfunding setting of two key rhetorical instruments: metaphorical communication and language concreteness. Based on a complementary fit logic, we theorize that metaphorical communication boosts resource contributions when paired with language concreteness, but hampers resource contributions when combined with language abstraction. Analysis of full-sample, firm-level data on 197 crowdfunding campaigns supports these ideas. These findings contribute to the strategic communication, signaling, and crowdfunding literatures.