The persuasion of borrowers’ voluntary information in peer to peer lending: An empirical study based on elaboration likelihood model

This paper investigates the persuasive process of borrowers' controllable voluntary information which can be easily manipulated and is particularly valuable for borrowers to persuade lenders and enhance the likelihood of funding success in P2P lending marketplace. Using a large scale data set from a Chinese leading P2P lending platform, namely Renrendai, based on a dual-processing persuasion theory-Elaboration Likelihood Model, we introduce four newly persuasive features (Completeness, Sentiment, Language intensity, The number of certificates) with central and peripheral cues in voluntary information. The results show that the persuasion of borrowers' voluntary information can be accomplished via two distinct routes in P2P lending, suggesting that not only central cues but also peripheral cues have significant effect on lenders’ decision making. Specially, negative sentiment is negatively associated with funding success which is contradictory to the findings in fund-raising appeals say using negative emotions can evoke “empathy-helping”. Moreover, we find a negative interaction effect on funding success between Completeness and The number of certificates. Our study shed some light for deeply understanding the dual-route persuasive process in P2P lending. •We introduce four newly persuasive features Completeness, Sentiment, Language intensity, the number of certificates.•Positive sentiment can enhance the probability of funding success, negative emotions can't evoke “empathy-helping”.•There a negative interaction effect on funding success between Completeness and The number of certificates.•Lenders are less interested in loans with high interest rate and short-term.