If I testify about others, my testimony is valid

Abstract While trustworthiness has been found to exert a vital influence on the success of an online medical crowdfunding ( Ba et al. 2021 ), scarce studies have investigated the concepts and culture of trust in Eastern scenarios like China ( Wang 2020 ). This is the first study aiming to discursively analyze how other-justified discourses, i.e., enhancing objectivity and trustworthiness through other people’s comments, contribute to obtaining potential donors’ trust in Chinese online medical crowdfunding encounters. Through the discourse analysis of 496 other-justified comments on fifty pieces of fully-funded online medical crowdfunding projects, it is found that four different types of people (a family member, a person in the same business or occupation, a classmate, a friend) offer evidence through other-justified discourses oriented towards ethos, experience, and emotion. The Wu-Lun (five ethic orders) in the acquaintance society is the underlying theoretical rationale that supports the credibility of other-justified discourse, which provides a novel research perspective for the dissemination and transitivity of trust in online medical crowdfunding. The findings serve to offer commenters an array of other-justified orientations and identity choices to engage more prospective backers in a medical donative event. The results highlight that crowdfunders not only need to display a compelling narrative strength but also raise awareness to enhance the trustworthiness of their projects, especially focusing on shreds of evidence provided by a third-person comment.