The heart has its reasons the reason does not know.The influence of entrepreneurial emotional narratives on the crowd.

Wuillaume, Amélie [UCL] Jacquemin, Amélie [UCL] Janssen, Frank [UCL]

We develop a framework connecting the ability of an entrepreneur to construct a narrative and his/her ability to acquire funds. To do so, we extend the findings of Martens, Jennings and Jennings (2007) that point out the strategic use of narratives to influence investors’ decision making in IPO. We use their research as a starting point to develop a conceptual framework which is potentially better suited to crowdfunding, as an emerging financing alternative. This framework is the result of an effort to achieve the recognition of funders’ emotions in their decision making. Inspired by behavioral finance, we advance novel arguments about the strategic use of narratives in the crowdfunding process. Specifically, we theorize how the use of emotions in narratives shapes funders’ emotional attitude toward the firm and in turn, their decision to participate in it.