Rhetorical impression management in the letter to shareholders and institutional setting A metadiscourse perspective
Rhetorical impression management in the letter to shareholders and institutional setting A metadiscourse perspective
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DOI：
10.1108/aaaj-01-2015-1916
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发表时间：
2017-01-01
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
Yan, Beibei
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Aerts, Walter;Yan, Beibei
目的-使用致股东信的复合风格措施，本文的目的是阐述主要的修辞概况，并从印象管理（IM）的角度对其进行限定。此外，本文通过比较英美公司的修辞特征的强度和偶然性，研究了制度差异如何影响修辞特征。设计/方法论/方法-作者使用自动文本分析来捕捉英国和美国公司的语言风格特征，并采用因素分析来确定修辞特征。接下来，作者调查了公司层面和国家层面对公司修辞立场的决定因素。发现-作者记录了三种突出的修辞特征：强调的赞扬立场，谨慎的基于似是而非的框架立场，以及基于逻辑的合理化取向。这些概要文件表示不同的自表示逻辑，具有不同的可读性效果。修辞性即时通讯在美国公司中更强，但在美国制度环境中，预期审查的增加影响了修辞姿态对信息可信度和诉讼风险的敏感性，同时略微增加了美国信件中对诉讼不太敏感的防御性框架风格。原创性/价值-作者基于复合风格特征，开发了可复制的基于档案的股东信中突出修辞IM特征的测量方法。作者认为它们与基于内容的IM代理在本质上是不同的。作者通过研究公司特征和国家层面的差异如何影响基于风格的修辞IM的激励和约束，调查了它们的制度和组织相关性。
Purpose - Using composite style measures of the letter to shareholders, the purpose of this paper is to elaborate dominant rhetorical profiles and qualify them from an impression management (IM) perspective. In addition, the paper examines how institutional differences affect rhetorical profiles by comparing intensity and contingencies of rhetorical profiles of UK and US companies.Design/methodology/approach - The authors use automated text analysis to capture linguistic style characteristics of a panel of UK and US companies and employ factor analysis to determine rhetorical profiles. Next, the authors investigate company-level and country-level determinants of a company's rhetorical stance.Findings - The authors document three prominent rhetorical profiles: an emphatic acclaiming stance, a cautious plausibility-based framing position, and a logic-based rationalizing orientation. The profiles represent distinct selfpresentational logics and have different readability effects. Rhetorical IM is stronger in US companies, but higher expected scrutiny in the US institutional environment affects sensitivity of rhetorical postures to message credibility and litigation risk, while marginally increasing the less litigation-sensitive defensive framing style in US letters.Originality/value - The authors develop replicable archival-based measures of prominent rhetorical IM traits of the shareholder letter, based on composite style features. The authors argue that they are qualitatively different from content-based IM proxies. The authors investigate their institutional and organizational relevance by examining how company features and country-level differences affect incentives and constraints for style-based rhetorical IM.