Ethics and ethos in financial reporting: Analyzing persuasive language in earnings calls

In response to ongoing concerns about financial ethics, this study analyzes the speech of company executives in quarterly earnings conference calls to understand strategic usage of ethics-related language. Against the backdrop of the recent global financial crisis, the Aristotelian concept of ethos provides a framework to investigate linguistic features that express ethical stance. Text analysis software was used to produce frequency profiles of features that were then further interpreted qualitatively. Results showed that the executives used a variety of more or less explicit terms to maintain a strong focus on trustworthiness and commitment to moving forward. The findings can inform the development of teaching materials that help learners become more effective communicators in the context of IT-mediated financial reporting.