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Firms often need to acquire external financial resources to maintain and develop their business. To attract these resources, firms employ various substantive and rhetorical signals, such as publishing press releases, showcasing prototypes of new products, and hiring renowned managers. However, despite the relevance of signals, we still know little about how they interact—whether they strengthen, weaken, or neutralize one another—in attracting resources. Traditional signaling theory downplays the importance of rhetoric while management research acknowledges its relevance, creating a disconnect between these two camps and a shortcoming that deserves further investigation. To address this shortcoming, we advance the concept of signal portfolios. Signal portfolios may combine rhetorical signals with substantive signals. We employ this concept to explain how the interaction of the two affects financial resource acquisition in high-noise environments—settings where firms send multiple signals simultaneously. Based on longitudinal data on crowdfunding, an exemplary high-noise environment, we find that rhetorical signals complement substantive signals in certain situations and, thus, strengthen their impact on a firm’s financial resource acquisition. Contrary to our expectations, however, we find that under specific conditions, rhetorical signals may also weaken the impact of substantive signals. Our research has implications for signaling theory, crowdfunding research, and management practice. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2017.1195 .

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the motivation of supporters to contribute resources to reward-based crowdfunding campaigns. Design/methodology/approach The paper reports results from a survey combining open and closed questions, addressing supporters of reward-based crowdfunding campaigns in the field of video game development. Publicly available data from a large crowdfunding website complements the approach. Findings Two groups of supporters emerge from the data: one group derives motivation almost exclusively from a purchasing motive, the other group displays the purchasing motive alongside an altruistic and involvement motive. There is little indication that social acknowledgement plays a role for supporter motivation. Supporters rely on the evaluation of previous activities of an entrepreneur to judge trustworthiness. Originality/value The manuscript offers empirical insights into the previously scarcely researched question why supporters contribute to reward-based crowdfunding. These insights inform research on reward-based crowdfunding and help entrepreneurs considering reward-based crowdfunding as a way to fund entrepreneurial activities.

Overfunding of crowdfunded product-development projects would seem to be a welcome outcome for entrepreneurs, yet initial theory and evidence suggest that overfunding can have both positive and negative consequences. To overcome these contradictory predictions, we develop theory linking research on slack resources, audience expectations, and product category spanning to hypothesize boundary conditions for whether and when overfunding has a positive or negative effect on the product-development outcomes of product release and audience-perceived product quality. Post-crowdfunding data on video-game development projects show that entrepreneurs with high-category-spanning products benefit substantially less from overfunding than entrepreneurs with low-category-spanning products. Our study provides novel insights into the relation between overfunding and product release as well as audience-perceived product quality. It also contributes to our emerging understanding of the role of categories in the context of crowdfunding. We discuss implications for theory and practice.Plain English SummaryFor entrepreneurs receiving more funding than sought in a crowdfunding campaign would seem to be a welcome outcome. However, prior studies have shown that such overfunding can have both positive and negative effects on subsequent product-development outcomes. To shed light on when the effects of overfunding are predominantly positive and when are they predominantly negative, we derive theory on how a product’s category spanning—that is, the positioning of a product in multiple product categories—may impact the effect of overfunding; specifically, on the probability that a product is released and on audience perceptions of the product’s quality. We test these predictions with data from video-game product-development projects crowdfunded on Kickstarter. Our results show that for products with low category spanning, overfunding can be beneficial in terms of both product release and audience perceptions of quality, while high overfunding for products with high category spanning can have detrimental effects for audience perceptions of quality.

Purpose – Following various calls for research, the purpose of this paper is to adopt theories of emotion and action to understand the affective dimension of sensemaking processes in organizational change endeavors. Design/methodology/approach – This paper is conceptual in nature, introducing theories from psychology, in particular dual processing theory and the somatic marker hypothesis, to the field of intra- and inter-personal sensemaking in change processes. Findings – The author discusses how emotions shape sensemaking and thus the perception of change events and how four discrete emotions (anger, fear, anxiety, hope) shape content and motivational strength of sensemaking accounts, influence the likelihood that a person will engage in sensegiving activities and will be willing to accept inter-personal sensemaking outcomes. The author proposes that emotions are an input to as well as an outcome of sensemaking processes. Research limitations/implications – Although this research builds on a strong empirical basis, is conceptual in nature. Future research might test the relationships suggested in this paper empirically. Practical implications – The findings suggest that the management of affective reactions of people subjected to change processes might be a field currently not sufficiently accounted for in change management. Active emotion management might be a way to steer change processes in a positive way for all the stakeholders involved. Originality/value – The conceptualization presented here contributes to the often requested development of a conceptual model integrating emotions into the sensemaking perspective. The introduction of distinct emotions and the grounding in multi-disciplinary theory as well as the strong implications for change management theory and practice make this contribution valuable.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between team political skill, i.e., the mean level of political skill among team members, and team performance. Specifically, it proposes that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon a common professional background as well as collective team commitment within the team. Design/methodology/approach Data from 45 service teams with 295 team members and their supervisors were analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using OLS regression. Findings The results show that a common professional background and collective team commitment serve as crucial contingencies for the relationship between team political skill and team performance. Research limitations/implications This study complements previous individual-level research demonstrating a positive relation between political skill and relevant outcomes by highlighting that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon other team characteristics. Practical implications To enhance team performance, managers should carefully consider the interplay between team political skill and other team characteristics when making staffing decisions. Originality/value The study highlights the relation of political skill with team performance and points to a potential downside of political skill in organizations.

Entrepreneurs can benefit from the communities they build. Therefore, many entrepreneurs create online communities that allow self-selected stakeholders, such as customers, crowd investors, or enthusiasts, to interact with the venture and other like-minded individuals. However, research on how entrepreneurs can successfully engage community members and grow such online communities is only slowly emerging. In particular, it is unclear if, how much, and which content entrepreneurs should contribute to foster engagement in different types of communities and which role these community types play in the community’s overall growth. Based on a longitudinal case study in the video game industry, we first theorize and show that—depending on the community type—both too much and too little entrepreneur-provided content fails to leverage community engagement potential and that different communities require more or less diverging content. We then theorize and show that community growth is largely driven by engagement in open communities, such as those hosted on social media. We outline the implications this has for entrepreneurs, our understanding of online communities, and entrepreneurial communities more generally.Plain English SummaryHow can entrepreneurs engage and grow different types of online communities?Managing online communities is crucial for many entrepreneurs. However, different community types, open and core, play different roles and require different content and growth strategies. Core communities, such as those hosted on online forums, respond well to less but more diverse content, whereas open communities on social media drive overall community growth with more but less diverse content. Entrepreneurs need to find the right balance and pay attention to the tipping point of content provision, as too much content might endanger community member engagement. By understanding the dynamics of online communities, entrepreneurs can effectively nurture engagement and optimize their efforts for long-term success. Investing resources wisely in content production, considering the costs involved, can be beneficial for new ventures seeking sustainable community growth.

Firms often need to acquire external financial resources to maintain and develop their business. To attract these resources, firms employ various substantive and rhetorical signals, such as publishing press releases, showcasing prototypes of new products, and hiring renowned managers. However, despite the relevance of signals, we still know little about how they interact--whether they strengthen, weaken, or neutralize one another--in attracting resources. Traditional signaling theory downplays the importance of rhetoric while management research acknowledges its relevance, creating a disconnect between these two camps and a shortcoming that deserves further investigation. To address this shortcoming, we advance the concept of signal portfolios. Signal portfolios may combine rhetorical signals with substantive signals. We employ this concept to explain how the interaction of the two affects financial resource acquisition in high-noise environments--settings where firms send multiple signals simultaneously. Based on longitudinal data on crowdfunding, an exemplary high-noise environment, we find that rhetorical signals complement substantive signals in certain situations and, thus, strengthen their impact on a firm's financial resource acquisition. Contrary to our expectations, however, we find that under specific conditions, rhetorical signals may also weaken the impact of substantive signals. Our research has implications for signaling theory, crowdfunding research, and management practice.