Increasingly, crowdfunding is transforming financing for many people worldwide. Yet we know relatively little about how, why, and when funding outcomes are impacted by signaling between funders. We conduct two studies of N=500 and N=750 participants involved in crowdfunding to investigate the effect of certain characteristics of ``crowd signals'' on the decision to fund. We find that, under a variety of conditions, contributions of heterogeneous amounts arriving at varying time intervals are significantly more likely to be selected than homogeneous contribution amounts and times. The impact of signaling is strongest among participants who are susceptible to social influence. The effect is remarkably general across different project types, fundraising goals, participant interest in the projects, and participants' altruistic attitudes. Critically, the role of crowd signals in decision-making is typically unrecognized by participants. Our results underscore the fundamental nature of social signaling in crowdfunding, informing strategies for platforms, funders, and project creators.

翻译：众筹正日益改变全球许多人的融资方式。然而，关于资助者之间的信号传递如何、为何以及何时影响资助结果，我们知之甚少。我们开展了两项研究，分别涉及500名和750名众筹参与者，以探究"人群信号"的某些特征对资助决策的影响。我们发现，在各种条件下，不同时间间隔到达的异质性捐款金额被选中的可能性显著高于同质性捐款金额和时间。信号传递的影响在易受社会影响的参与者中最为显著。该效应在项目类型、筹资目标、参与者对项目的兴趣以及参与者的利他态度方面表现出显著的普遍性。关键是，人群信号在决策中的作用通常未被参与者察觉。我们的研究结果强调了社会信号传递在众筹中的根本性质，为平台、资助者和项目创建者制定策略提供了依据。