IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jomstd/v59y2022i7p1657-1687.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rhetoric, Risk, and Investment: Letting the Numbers Speak for Themselves

Author

Listed:
  • Michael S. McLeod
  • Joshua B. Sears
  • Gaylen N. Chandler
  • G. Tyge Payne
  • Keith H. Brigham

Abstract

It is well established that words matter. Yet, there remains much that we do not understand about when and how words are best utilized in various business contexts. This study uses a mediation model to examine how investment risk influences the choice of different rhetorical frames – logos (logic), pathos (emotion), and ethos (character) – in the initial public offering (IPO) prospectus, and subsequently how rhetoric influences investment performance. We apply rhetorical theory to describe how authors use different amalgamations of words to frame messages to persuade audiences to engage in specific actions. Two key mechanisms of rhetorical theory that we investigate and build upon in this study are: 1) rhetoric reflects an author’s perspective of a context (i.e., perspective of the investment risk) and 2) the process through which cognitive resource limitations of authors and audiences influence outcomes. Specifically, we question whether these two mechanisms create a paradoxical situation where rhetoric that reflects the author’s perspective is not always the most effective approach given cognitive resource limitations. Based on a sample of 644 IPO firms, we find that using words that reflect the author’s perspective is not always the most persuasive. We posit that this is because investment authors fail to account for other communicative symbols (such as data and financial information) that can fulfill the role of more logic‐based rhetorical frames, thereby creating cognitive resource slack.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael S. McLeod & Joshua B. Sears & Gaylen N. Chandler & G. Tyge Payne & Keith H. Brigham, 2022. "Rhetoric, Risk, and Investment: Letting the Numbers Speak for Themselves," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(7), pages 1657-1687, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:59:y:2022:i:7:p:1657-1687
    DOI: 10.1111/joms.12812
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12812
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/joms.12812?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Merton, Robert C, 1973. "An Intertemporal Capital Asset Pricing Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(5), pages 867-887, September.
    2. Hurdle, Gloria J, 1974. "Leverage, Risk, Market Structure and Profitability," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 56(4), pages 478-485, November.
    3. Sandy Edward Green Jr & Yuan Li, 2011. "Rhetorical Institutionalism: Language, Agency, and Structure in Institutional Theory since Alvesson 1993," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(7), pages 1662-1697, November.
    4. Moss, Todd W. & Renko, Maija & Block, Emily & Meyskens, Moriah, 2018. "Funding the story of hybrid ventures: Crowdfunder lending preferences and linguistic hybridity," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 643-659.
    5. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1978. "Asset Prices in an Exchange Economy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(6), pages 1429-1445, November.
    6. Curt B. Moore & G. Tyge Payne & Igor Filatotchev & Edward J. Zajac, 2019. "The Cost of Status: When Social and Economic Interests Collide," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(5), pages 869-884, September.
    7. Michael S. McLeod & G. Tyge Payne & Robert E. Evert, 2016. "Organizational Ethics Research: A Systematic Review of Methods and Analytical Techniques," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 134(3), pages 429-443, March.
    8. C. Marlene Fiol, 2002. "Capitalizing on Paradox: The Role of Language in Transforming Organizational Identities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(6), pages 653-666, December.
    9. Michael S. McLeod & Curt B. Moore & G. Tyge Payne & Jennifer C. Sexton & Robert E. Evert, 2018. "Organizational Virtue and Stakeholder Interdependence: An Empirical Examination of Financial Intermediaries and IPO Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(4), pages 785-798, June.
    10. Anglin, Aaron H. & Wolfe, Marcus T. & Short, Jeremy C. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Pidduck, Robert J., 2018. "Narcissistic rhetoric and crowdfunding performance: A social role theory perspective," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 780-812.
    11. Carter, Richard B & Manaster, Steven, 1990. "Initial Public Offerings and Underwriter Reputation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1045-1067, September.
    12. Allison, Thomas H. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Short, Jeremy C., 2013. "The effect of entrepreneurial rhetoric on microlending investment: An examination of the warm-glow effect," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 690-707.
    13. Joep P. Cornelissen & Jean Clarke, 2010. "Imagining and rationalizing opportunities : Inductive reasoning and the creation and justification of new ventures," Post-Print hal-02312342, HAL.
    14. Dorn, Daniel, 2009. "Does Sentiment Drive the Retail Demand for IPOs?," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(1), pages 85-108, February.
    15. Anglin, Aaron H. & Short, Jeremy C. & Drover, Will & Stevenson, Regan M. & McKenny, Aaron F. & Allison, Thomas H., 2018. "The power of positivity? The influence of positive psychological capital language on crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 470-492.
    16. Maurizio Floris & David Grant & Leanne Cutcher, 2013. "Mining the Discourse: Strategizing During BHP Billiton's Attempted Acquisition of Rio Tinto," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(7), pages 1185-1215, November.
    17. Brad M. Barber & Chip Heath & Terrance Odean, 2003. "Good Reasons Sell: Reason-Based Choice Among Group and Individual Investors in the Stock Market," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(12), pages 1636-1652, December.
    18. I. N. Fisher & G. R. Hall, 1969. "Risk and Corporate Rates of Return," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 83(1), pages 79-92.
    19. Joep P. Cornelissen & Jean Clarke, 2010. "Imagining and rationalizing opportunities : Inductive reasoning and the creation and justification of new ventures," Post-Print hal-02276730, HAL.
    20. Merton, Robert C., 1980. "On estimating the expected return on the market : An exploratory investigation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(4), pages 323-361, December.
    21. Niina Erkama & Eero Vaara, 2010. "Struggles over legitimacy in global organizational restructuring : A Rhetorical perspective on legitimation strategies and dynamics in a shutdown case," Post-Print hal-02312530, HAL.
    22. Wm. Gerard Sanders & Steven Boivie, 2004. "Sorting things out: valuation of new firms in uncertain markets," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 167-186, February.
    23. Charness, Gary & Gneezy, Uri, 2012. "Strong Evidence for Gender Differences in Risk Taking," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 50-58.
    24. Friedman, L.C. & Cheyne, A. & Givelber, D. & Gottlieb, M.A. & Daynard, R.A., 2015. "Tobacco industry use of personal responsibility rhetoric in public relations and litigation: Disguising freedom to blame as freedom of choice," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(2), pages 250-260.
    25. Michael Lounsbury & Mary Ann Glynn, 2001. "Cultural entrepreneurship: stories, legitimacy, and the acquisition of resources," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 545-564, June.
    26. Ranjay Gulati & Monica C. Higgins, 2003. "Which ties matter when? the contingent effects of interorganizational partnerships on IPO success," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 127-144, February.
    27. Tim Loughran & Jay Ritter, 2004. "Why Has IPO Underpricing Changed Over Time?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 33(3), Fall.
    28. Evert, Robert E. & Payne, G. Tyge & Moore, Curt B. & McLeod, Michael S., 2018. "Top Management Team Characteristics and Organizational Virtue Orientation: An Empirical Examination of IPO Firms," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 28(4), pages 427-461, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Oo, Pyayt P. & Jiang, Lin & Sahaym, Arvin & Parhankangas, Annaleena & Chan, Richard, 2023. "Actions in words: How entrepreneurs use diversified and changing speech acts to achieve funding success," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    2. Benson, David F. & Brau, James C. & Cicon, James & Ferris, Stephen P., 2015. "Strategically camouflaged corporate governance in IPOs: Entrepreneurial masking and impression management," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 839-864.
    3. Chandler, Jeffrey A. & Payne, G. Tyge & Moore, Curt & Brigham, Keith H., 2019. "Family involvement signals in initial public offerings," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 8-16.
    4. Geiger, Mark, 2020. "A meta-analysis of the gender gap(s) in venture funding: Funder- and entrepreneur-driven perspectives," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 13(C).
    5. Maurer, Joshua D. & Creek, Steven A. & Allison, Thomas H. & Bendickson, Joshua S. & Sahaym, Arvin, 2023. "Affiliation rhetoric and digital orientation in crowdfunding appeals," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    6. Aaron H. Anglin & Jeremy C. Short & David J. Ketchen Jr. & Thomas H. Allison & Aaron F. McKenny, 2020. "Third-Party Signals in Crowdfunded Microfinance: The Role of Microfinance Institutions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 44(4), pages 623-644, July.
    7. Fariss–Terry Mousa & Richard Reed, 2013. "The Impact of Slack Resources on High–Tech IPOs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 37(5), pages 1123-1147, September.
    8. Yuliya Snihur & Llewellyn D. W. Thomas & Raghu Garud & Nelson Phillips, 2022. "Entrepreneurial Framing: A Literature Review and Future Research Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(3), pages 578-606, May.
    9. Jeffrey J. Reuer & Roberto Ragozzino, 2012. "The Choice Between Joint Ventures and Acquisitions: Insights from Signaling Theory," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(4), pages 1175-1190, August.
    10. Aaron H. Anglin & Shane W. Reid & Jeremy C. Short, 2023. "More Than One Way to Tell a Story: A Configurational Approach to Storytelling in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 461-494, March.
    11. Curt B. Moore & R. Greg Bell & Igor Filatotchev, 2010. "Institutions and Foreign IPO Firms: The Effects of “Home†and “Host†Country Institutions on Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(3), pages 469-490, May.
    12. Cheng-Wei Wu & Jeffrey J. Reuer, 2021. "Effects of R&D Investments and Market Signals on International Acquisitions: Evidence from IPO Firms," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-27, April.
    13. Thapa, Nischal, 2020. "Being cognizant of the amount of information: Curvilinear relationship between total-information and funding-success of crowdfunding campaigns," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    14. van Werven, Ruben & Bouwmeester, Onno & Cornelissen, Joep P., 2015. "The power of arguments: How entrepreneurs convince stakeholders of the legitimate distinctiveness of their ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 616-631.
    15. Cornelissen Joep P. & Rodolphe Durand & Fiss Peer & Lammers John C. & Vaara Eero, 2015. "Putting Communication Front and Center in Institutional Theory and Analysis," Post-Print hal-02276731, HAL.
    16. Oghenovo A. Obrimah, 2023. "Underpricing of initial public offerings (IPOs) and the credibility of underwriters’ pricing services," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 1-33, February.
    17. Mouri, Nacef & Sarkar, M.B. & Frye, Melissa, 2012. "Alliance portfolios and shareholder value in post-IPO firms: The moderating roles of portfolio structure and firm-level uncertainty," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 355-371.
    18. Aaron H. Anglin & Hana Milanov & Jeremy C. Short, 2023. "Religious Expression and Crowdfunded Microfinance Success: Insights from Role Congruity Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 397-426, June.
    19. Rama, Ali & Jiang, Chunxia & Johan, Sofia & Liu, Hong & Mai, Yong, 2022. "Religious and social narratives and crowdfunding success," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    20. Magdalena Mikolajek-Gocejna, 2021. "Estimation, Instability, and Non-Stationarity of Beta Coefficients for Twenty-four Emerging Markets in 2005-2021," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 370-395.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jomstd:v:59:y:2022:i:7:p:1657-1687. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-2380 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.