Straight Talkers and Vague Talkers: The Effects of Managerial Style in Earnings Conference Calls

Michał Dzieliński (), Alexander Wagner and Richard Zeckhauser

No 17-13, Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series from Swiss Finance Institute

Abstract: Managers conducting earnings conference calls display distinctive styles in their word choice. Some CEOs and CFOs are straight talkers. Others, by contrast, are vague talkers. Vague talkers routinely use qualifying words indicating uncertainty, such as “approximately”, “probably”, or “maybe”. Analysts and the stock market attend to the style of managerial talk. They find earnings news less informative when managers are vague; they respond less and more slowly as a result. Thus, quantitative information and straightforward contextual information prove to be complements. Vague communications have the potential benefit of tamping down over-optimistic analysts expectations.

Keywords: Communication Style; Earnings Conference Calls; Straight Talk; Vagueness; Textual Analysis; Stock Analysts (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G14 G30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 65 pages
Date: 2017-05, Revised 2017-06
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Straight Talkers and Vague Talkers: The Effects of Managerial Style in Earnings Conference Calls (2017)
Working Paper: Straight Talkers and Vague Talkers: The Effects of Managerial Style in Earnings Conference Calls (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp1713

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