Vague Language, Founding Team Human Capital, and Resource Acquisition

• 成果类型: Article; Early Access
• 署名作者: El-Zayaty, Andy; Ganco, Martin; Khoshimov, Bekhzod
• 署名单位: Santa Clara University; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; New York University; New York University Abu Dhabi
• 刊物名称: ORGANIZATION SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7039
• DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2022.16367
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: Entrepreneurship; quantitative text analysis; human capital

摘要

Investors look to the language a firm uses for information that may not be available otherwise, especially in entrepreneurial settings. One aspect of language that is garnering greater attention in the management and other business literatures is vagueness. Vague language is often viewed negatively by audiences because of its association with greater uncertainty and potential to obscure negative information. However, some work in linguistics implies that the use of vague language can have positive impacts if the speaker understands the needs of the audience. This study explores the use of vague language and its relationship with investor interest as well as how it interacts with the skills of the entrepreneurial founding team. We hypothesize that, in general, investors are less interested in firms that use vague language, but the positive impacts of vague language become apparent when firm founders have human capital endowments associated with the effective use of language. Analyses based on data from a major start-up pitch competition provide evidence to support these hypotheses. Post hoc analyses explore potential mechanisms.