IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v65y2025i3p3081-3106.html

CEO Narcissism and Linguistic Complexity in Earnings Conference Calls

Author

Listed:
  • Frederic Lammers
  • Ulrich Pape

Abstract

Existing research shows that firms leverage linguistic complexity in corporate communication to obscure negative information and shape audience perception. In this study, we examine the impact of CEO narcissism on the strategic use of linguistic complexity during earnings conference calls. Driven by strong (weak) motivation for impression management in image‐enhancing (threatening) scenarios, narcissistic CEOs are expected to employ less complex language when reporting favourable (unfavourable) performance. Utilising a narcissism index comprising 15 indicators, we find a significant negative relationship between CEO narcissism and linguistic complexity in the question‐and‐answer (Q&A) sections of these calls.

Suggested Citation

  • Frederic Lammers & Ulrich Pape, 2025. "CEO Narcissism and Linguistic Complexity in Earnings Conference Calls," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(3), pages 3081-3106, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:65:y:2025:i:3:p:3081-3106
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.70031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.70031
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.70031?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. David F. Larcker & Anastasia A. Zakolyukina, 2012. "Detecting Deceptive Discussions in Conference Calls," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 50(2), pages 495-540, May.
    2. Rachel W. Flam & Jeremiah Green & Joshua A. Lee & Nathan Y. Sharp, 2023. "Ethnic Minority Analysts’ Participation in Public Earnings Conference Calls," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 61(5), pages 1591-1631, December.
    3. Joel Amernic & Russell Craig, 2010. "Accounting as a Facilitator of Extreme Narcissism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 96(1), pages 79-93, September.
    4. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2016. "Textual Analysis in Accounting and Finance: A Survey," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 54(4), pages 1187-1230, September.
    5. Frerich Buchholz & Reemda Jaeschke & Kerstin Lopatta & Karen Maas, 2018. "The use of optimistic tone by narcissistic CEOs," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 31(2), pages 531-562, February.
    6. Pankaj C. Patel & Danielle Cooper, 2014. "The harder they fall, the faster they rise: Approach and avoidance focus in narcissistic CEOs," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(10), pages 1528-1540, October.
    7. Lang, Mark & Stice-Lawrence, Lorien, 2015. "Textual analysis and international financial reporting: Large sample evidence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 110-135.
    8. Samuel B. Bonsall & Brian P. Miller, 2017. "The impact of narrative disclosure readability on bond ratings and the cost of debt," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 608-643, June.
    9. Muhammad Nadeem, 2022. "Board Gender Diversity and Managerial Obfuscation: Evidence from the Readability of Narrative Disclosure in 10-K Reports," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(1), pages 153-177, August.
    10. De Amicis, Chiara & Falconieri, Sonia & Tastan, Mesut, 2021. "Sentiment analysis and gender differences in earnings conference calls," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Frerich Buchholz & Kerstin Lopatta & Karen Maas, 2020. "The Deliberate Engagement of Narcissistic CEOs in Earnings Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 167(4), pages 663-686, December.
    12. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    13. Kristian D. Allee & Matthew D. Deangelis, 2015. "The Structure of Voluntary Disclosure Narratives: Evidence from Tone Dispersion," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 53(2), pages 241-274, May.
    14. Xu, Qiao & Fernando, Guy D. & Tam, Kinsun, 2018. "Executive age and the readability of financial reports," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 70-81.
    15. Noh, Joonki & Zhou, Dexin, 2022. "Executives’ Blaming external factors and market reactions: Evidence from earnings conference calls," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    16. Kira R. Fabrizio & Eun-Hee Kim, 2019. "Reluctant Disclosure and Transparency: Evidence from Environmental Disclosures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(6), pages 1207-1231, November.
    17. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2011. "When Is a Liability Not a Liability? Textual Analysis, Dictionaries, and 10‐Ks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 35-65, February.
    18. Price, S. McKay & Doran, James S. & Peterson, David R. & Bliss, Barbara A., 2012. "Earnings conference calls and stock returns: The incremental informativeness of textual tone," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 992-1011.
    19. Li, Feng, 2008. "Annual report readability, current earnings, and earnings persistence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 221-247, August.
    20. Justin Hung Nguyen, 2021. "Tax Avoidance and Financial Statement Readability," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(5), pages 1043-1066, October.
    21. Antoinette Rijsenbilt & Harry Commandeur, 2013. "Narcissus Enters the Courtroom: CEO Narcissism and Fraud," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 117(2), pages 413-429, October.
    22. William J. Mayew & Mohan Venkatachalam, 2012. "The Power of Voice: Managerial Affective States and Future Firm Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 1-44, February.
    23. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-11-2015-2292 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Danial Hemmings & Lynn Hodgkinson & Gwion Williams, 2020. "It's OK to pay well, if you write well: The effects of remuneration disclosure readability," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5-6), pages 547-586, May.
    25. Angela K. Davis & Weili Ge & Dawn Matsumoto & Jenny Li Zhang, 2015. "The effect of manager-specific optimism on the tone of earnings conference calls," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 639-673, June.
    26. Rennekamp, Kristina M. & Sethuraman, Mani & Steenhoven, Blake A., 2022. "Engagement in earnings conference calls," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1).
    27. Wei Jiang & Chuyue Shi & Yu Li & Sujuan Xie, 2024. "Executive individualism and the tone of firms' annual reports," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 64(5), pages 4567-4591, December.
    28. Aktas, Nihat & de Bodt, Eric & Bollaert, Helen & Roll, Richard, 2016. "CEO Narcissism and the Takeover Process: From Private Initiation to Deal Completion," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(1), pages 113-137, February.
    29. Rong Gong, 2023. "CEO overconfidence and the tone of press release," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(2), pages 2081-2108, June.
    30. Lawrence, Alastair, 2013. "Individual investors and financial disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 130-147.
    31. Baker, Andrew C. & Larcker, David F. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2022. "How much should we trust staggered difference-in-differences estimates?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(2), pages 370-395.
    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. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    2. Brian J. Bushee & Ian D. Gow & Daniel J. Taylor, 2018. "Linguistic Complexity in Firm Disclosures: Obfuscation or Information?," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 56(1), pages 85-121, March.
    3. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2016. "Textual Analysis in Accounting and Finance: A Survey," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 54(4), pages 1187-1230, September.
    4. Devrimi Kaya & Christian Maier & Tobias Böhmer, 2020. "Empirische Kapitalmarktforschung zu Conference Calls: Eine Literaturanalyse [Empirical Capital Market Research on Conference Calls: A Literature Review]," Schmalenbach Journal of Business Research, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 183-212, June.
    5. Chen, Xin & Park, June Woo & Tsang, Albert & Xin, Yingying, 2025. "CEO left-handedness and readability," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    6. Hossain, Amir & Bose, Sudipta & Shamsuddin, Abul, 2025. "Do integrated report readability and tone convey value relevant information? International evidence," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3).
    7. Kiridaran Kanagaretnam & Wen Li & Guifeng Shi & Zejiang Zhou, 2025. "Ambiguity of tone in annual reports and bank risk taking," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(1), pages 935-970, March.
    8. Zeckhauser, Richard, 2017. "Straight Talkers and Vague Talkers: The Effects of Managerial Style in Earnings Conference Calls," Working Paper Series rwp17-017, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    9. Julien Maux & Nadia Smaili, 2024. "CEO narcissism, board of directors and disclosure quality: evidence from the readability of CEO letter," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 341-358, September.
    10. Charles Ham & Mark Piorkowski & Nick Seybert & Sean Wang, 2025. "CFO narcissism and the power of persuasion over analysts: a mixed-methods approach," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 2419-2467, September.
    11. Richard Frankel & Jared Jennings & Joshua Lee, 2022. "Disclosure Sentiment: Machine Learning vs. Dictionary Methods," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(7), pages 5514-5532, July.
    12. Xiaoqian Zhu & Huidong Wu & Yanpeng Chang & Jianping Li, 2025. "Accounting fraud detection through textual risk disclosures in annual reports: From the perspective of SEC guidelines," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(2), pages 1837-1862, June.
    13. Zehan Hou & Richard Fairchild & Pietro Perotti, 2025. "CEO Narcissism and Credit Ratings," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 197(1), pages 39-72, February.
    14. Bhagwat, Vineet & Shirley, Sara E. & Stark, Jeffrey R., 2024. "Task-oriented speech and information processing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    15. Pradhan, Rudra P. & Samarakoon, S.M.R.K. & Wijesinghe, B.A.C.H. & Maradana, Rana P., 2025. "Clear or confusing? How financial report readability and tone are associated with dividend payouts in Indian corporations," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    16. Allee, Kristian D. & Do, Chuong & Sterin, Mikhail, 2021. "Product market competition, disclosure framing, and casting in earnings conference calls," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1).
    17. Soliman, Marwa & Ben-Amar, Walid, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility orientation and textual features of financial disclosures," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    18. Kalelkar, Rachana & Xu, Hongkang & Nguyen, Duong & Chen, Zheng, 2024. "Generalist CEOs and the readability of the 10-K report," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    19. Fahd Alduais & Nashat Ali Almasria & Abeer Samara & Ali Masadeh, 2022. "Conciseness, Financial Disclosure, and Market Reaction: A Textual Analysis of Annual Reports in Listed Chinese Companies," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-22, November.
    20. Peter M. Clarkson & Jordan Ponn & Gordon D. Richardson & Frank Rudzicz & Albert Tsang & Jingjing Wang, 2020. "A Textual Analysis of US Corporate Social Responsibility Reports," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 56(1), pages 3-34, March.

    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:acctfi:v:65:y:2025:i:3:p:3081-3106. 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: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.html .

    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.