“Just wondering if you could comment on that”: indirect requests for information in corporate earnings calls

Abstract

For purposes of financial disclosure, large companies often organize earnings calls, i.e., multi-party telephone calls arranged through a teleconferencing service during which executives present financial results to investment analysts. The presentations are followed by question and answer sessions that allow the analysts to obtain additional information or clarification. This study investigates the language used by investment analysts to request information, with particular attention to indirect requests. It is based on a corpus of thirty authentic question and answer sessions from earnings calls. The methodological approach uses corpus techniques as a point of entry for in-depth textual analysis to acquire a broader understanding of the strategic use of indirectness. The emerging insights were further illuminated by the input of a professional informant. On the quantitative level, indirect requests were found to be more than twice as frequent as direct requests, even if the latter would seem entirely appropriate in these routine informative events. Qualitative analysis suggested that the motivation behind this usage does not reflect a particular concern for politeness, but rather the analysts' aim to extract as much information as possible in this technology-mediated setting, while projecting an image of highly competent yet likeable professionals at the same time.