Customer engagement in online social crowdfunding: The influence of storytelling technique on donation performance

Crowdfunding has become a key approach in connecting people and equality distribution mechanisms. Digitalization enables various crowdfunding platforms to be built online for different purposes, one of those being donation crowdfunding for social purposes. To capture attention and obtain sufficient donations, customer engagement is a key focus for these platforms. To engage customer emotion and cognition, social crowdfunding content must be captivating. Storytelling techniques are one of the most popular approaches in creating engaging content. It is essential to explore the relationship between storytelling, customer engagement, and successful achievement of donations. This research explores the different effects of direct vs. indirect storytelling techniques on social-issue crowdfunding campaigns. Data from a crowdfunding platform suggest that storytelling techniques have a significant positive effect on customer engagement and donation performance, particularly the direct storytelling technique. However, customer engagement does not serve as a mediator between storytelling and donation performance. This study fills the research gap regarding digital customer engagement, particularly in the social purpose context. The theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.