Social media opinion leaders and information diffusion of crowdfunding projects: Evidence from China

Opinion leaders play essential roles in online social media and are the key to analyzing the process of information diffusion. While the crowdfunding market has exhibited rapid growth, empirical studies about social media opinion leaders in the crowdfunding context remain nascent. Specifically, efforts to identify opinion leaders in social media and to understand the mechanisms by which such opinion leaders influence others in the crowdfunding context are limited. Based on the information diffusion theory, this study aims to address these research gaps by applying a multiple-case research design combined with dynamic network analysis (DNA). By analyzing user-generated content related to selected case projects from Weibo, the most popular micro-blogging site in China, the study identifies five types of social media opinion leaders. In addition, it investigates the various roles of opinion leaders in the information diffusion process on social media. Theoretically, this study broadens the boundaries of the "two-step flow" model and the diffusion of innovations theory by applying them to the crowdfunding context. The findings of this study provide valuable insights on crowdfunding project promotion for both crowdfunding platform operators and project initiators.