SILVER BULLET OR RICOCHET? CEOS' USE OF METAPHORICAL COMMUNICATION AND INFOMEDIARIES' EVALUATIONS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Koenig, Andreas; Mammen, Jan; Luger, Johannes; Fehn, Angela; Enders, Albrecht
• 署名单位: University of Passau; University of Erlangen Nuremberg; Copenhagen Business School; University of St Gallen; Otto Friedrich University Bamberg; International Institute for Management Development (IMD)
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2016.0626
• 发表日期: 2018
• 页码: 1196-1230
• 关键词: IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT; SECURITIES ANALYSTS; CONTEMPORARY THEORY; STRATEGIC CHANGE; MEDIA ATTENTION; public-opinion; CHARISMA; BUSINESS; earnings; CONSEQUENCES

摘要

We combine literature on rhetoric and socially situated sensemaking to illuminate the challenges that emerge when chief executive officers (CEOs) try to influence infomediaries by using metaphorical communication-figurative linguistic expressions that convey thoughts and feelings by describing one domain, A, through another domain, B. Specifically, we theorize that because different infomediaries are situated in different thought worlds, CEOs' use of metaphorical communication has contradictory effects on journalists' and securities analysts' evaluations: while it triggers more favorable statements from journalists, it prompts more unfavorable assessments from analysts. Moreover, we integrate findings from cognitive psychology to argue that these contradictory effects increase the more a firm's performance falls behind market expectations. Our hypotheses find support in an extensive analysis of 937 quarterly earnings calls in the U.S. pharmaceutical, hardware, and software industries, and of journalists' statements and analysts' earnings forecasts and recommendations. Our novel theorizing and findings suggest that the use of discursive frames, especially in the form of metaphorical communication, in firms' interactions with critical audiences creates thought-provoking and thus-far neglected dilemmas. In developing and testing these thoughts, we contribute to and link ongoing conversations in management science, especially discussions of organizational reputation, executive communication, and impression management.