A metric-conjoint experiment on crowd lenders’ responses to failure attributions of entrepreneurs

Crowdlending offers entrepreneurs and lenders a low-barrier alternative to traditional finance but operates under high uncertainty and limited firm-level information, requiring reliance on observable cues. One crucial cue arises when entrepreneurs disclose and explain prior failure. Drawing on attribution theory, we examine how crowd lenders respond to different failure attributions and how this shapes willingness to invest. Using a metric-conjoint experiment in Germany ( N = 78; 2496 observations) and analysing results with linear mixed-effects models, we find that lenders react more positively to internal, controllable, and unstable attributions compared to external, stable, and uncontrollable causes. Moreover, gender differences emerged, with female lenders responding differently from men. By shifting the focus from the self-responses by entrepreneurs to lender evaluations, we extend attribution theory to the crowdlending context and demonstrate how gender shapes the interpretation of failure signals. These insights advance understanding of decision-making in alternative entrepreneurial finance, informing entrepreneurs, lenders, and platform design.