This study explores how actors’ category spanning and human capital cues may jointly affect audience evaluation in entrepreneurship. The categorization literature has evolved from focusing solely on the “categorical imperative” thesis—which posits that category spanning negatively impacts audience evaluations—to exploring conditions under which category spanning may be evaluated favorably, such as in novel contexts or when heterogeneous audience evaluation schemas are present. Despite this progress, limited attention has been given to the attributes of the actors engaged in category spanning. Understanding the attributes of category spanners is important, as they can either mitigate or exacerbate the competence and identity ambiguities associated with category spanning. We draw on insights from the human capital literature and propose that general human capital, when paired with category spanning, amplifies competence ambiguity. Conversely, when specific human capital is combined with category spanning, it conveys the entrepreneurs’ situational competence relevant to the context and is, therefore, effective in attracting audience. Additionally, we theorize that heterogeneous human capital—indicating multiple identities—intensifies the identity ambiguity accompanying category spanning. By analyzing 81,681 Indiegogo campaigns, we find support for our theorization.
