When Small Predicts Large: The Effect of Early Contribution Amount on Subsequent Contributions to a Crowdfunding Project

Crowdfunding (e.g., Kickstarter.com) becomes increasingly popular recently. Using real-world large-scale crowdfunding data and experiments, we found the “Small Predicts Large” effect, i.e., people are more likely to contribute to a newly launched project when early contributions consist mainly of small amounts, and this is driven by people’s relationship inferences.