Can Sustainability Disclosure Affect Crowdfunding Success?

Abstract

Sustainability has emerged as a critical element in entrepreneurial finance, yet its role in reward‐based crowdfunding (RBC) remains underexplored. Existing studies on sustainability and crowdfunding primarily focus on equity‐based models, specific project types, or single‐country analyses, leading to mixed findings and limited generalizability. To address this gap, we conducted a cross‐country study assessing how sustainability disclosure influences RBC crowdfunding success. Using a novel machine learning approach, we objectively classify campaign sustainability orientation, overcoming the subjectivity of traditional keyword‐based methods. Analyzing 1838 Kickstarter campaigns across Europe, we find that sustainability disclosure increases funds raised by 70.4% and success probability by 10%, accounting for several control variables. These results provide empirical evidence that sustainability serves as a quality signal, mitigating information asymmetry and significantly increasing campaign success. Our study advances the entrepreneurial finance literature by demonstrating the positive impact of sustainability disclosure in crowdfunding and introducing a machine learning–based methodology for objective sustainability classification. Beyond theoretical contributions, the findings offer practical implications for entrepreneurs and platform regulators, emphasizing the strategic importance of transparent sustainability communication to ensure crowdfunding success.