ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Digital Public Health
Research on the Influencing Factors of Sustainable Fundraising in Internet Medical Crowdfunding: Based on Dramaturgical Theory
Provisionally accepted
Zihan Huang
Zhenyan Han*- Hohai University, Nanjing, China
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Amid global population aging and escalating healthcare costs, technology-enabled medical crowdfunding has emerged as a means to improve access to care. Nevertheless, concerns persist regarding its fairness, accountability, and long-term sustainability. Grounded in dramaturgical theory, this study analyzes data from 8,499 completed campaigns on China's Waterdrop Charity platform from 2018 to 2023. We conduct regression analyses of potential performance determinants to explore, across three dimensions, the key factors shaping medical crowdfunding performance. The results show that fundraising performance is positively associated with dynamic frontstage updates and with distinctive (non-formulaic) narratives; the experience of backstage charitable organizations amplifies the positive effect of dynamic updates; and donors' sharing/reposting behavior serves as a transmission mediator. Building on these findings, we offer short-and long-term recommendations to optimize performance, improve the medical crowdfunding model, and promote the sustainable development of philanthropy.
Keywords: dramaturgical theory, Medical crowdfunding, charitable organizations, Fundraising performance, Influencing factors, sustainable development
Received: 17 Jul 2025; Accepted: 09 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Huang and Han. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zhenyan Han
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