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Article
Publication date: 15 November 2021

Keng Yang, Hanying Qi and Qian Huang

Existing studies on the relationship between task description and task performance are insufficient, with many studies considering description length rather than content to…

Abstract

Purpose

Existing studies on the relationship between task description and task performance are insufficient, with many studies considering description length rather than content to measure quality or only evaluating a single aspect of task performance. To address this gap, this study analyzes the linguistic styles of task descriptions from 2,545 tasks on the Taskcn.com crowdsourcing platform.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical analysis was completed for task description language styles and task performance. The paper used text mining tool Simplified Chinese Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to extract eight linguistic styles, namely readability, self-distancing, cognitive complexity, causality, tentative language, humanizing personal details, normative information and language intensity. And it tests the relationship between the eight language styles and task performance.

Findings

The study found that more cognitive complexity markers, tentative language, humanized details and normative information increase the quantity of submissions for a task. In addition, more humanized details and normative information in a task description improves the quality of task. Conversely, the inclusion of more causal relationships in a task description reduces the quantity of submissions. Poorer readability of the task description, less self-estrangement and higher language intensity reduces the quality of the task.

Originality/value

This study first reveals the importance of the linguistic styles used in task descriptions and provides a reference for how to attract more task solvers and achieve higher quality task performance by improving task descriptions. The research also enriches existing knowledge on the impact of linguistic styles and the applications of text mining.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 122 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 June 2021

Wan Nur Fazni Wan Mohamad Nazarie and Russell Williams

The study aims to explore language style and gender match as a key part of initial trust among potential donors and how this leads to funding success based on the similarity…

Abstract

Purpose

The study aims to explore language style and gender match as a key part of initial trust among potential donors and how this leads to funding success based on the similarity attraction and homophily theories. Empirical analyses of 160 respondents revealed that people are more concerned about “how it is written” (language style) than “who has written it” (gender).

Design/methodology/approach

Crowdfunding (CF) is an internet-based method of funding employed by project founders, allowing individuals to raise funds from the crowd to support their projects. It is important for project founders to attract the crowd’s interest as potential funders commonly have limited information about projects. One of the early cues about a project that can be picked up by the crowd in CF projects is the text description of the proposal. This text description is crucial for giving the crowd an understanding of the project and for promoting the crowd’s trust in the founder, encouraging them to fund the CF project. Based on the similarity attraction and homophily theories, this study sets out to explore language style and gender match as key elements of initial trust among potential donors and how they lead to funding success. A 2 × 2 factorial experimental design (e.g. subject, male and female, × male language style and female language style) was used for the study. To determine the sample size of the experiment, this study applied power and sample size estimations to measure how many respondents were needed for the experiment. Based on the power table of effect size, 128 respondents were considered to be a sufficient number for this experiment to ensure sufficient statistical power of 0.8 and a significance level of 0.05. This study fulfilled the requirement by recruiting 160 respondents, which corresponded to 40 subjects per group based on a 2 × 2 factorial design (the respondents’ gender, male and female, and text language style, male and female). The empirical analysis of 160 respondents revealed that people are more concerned about “how it is written” (language style) than “who has written it” (gender).

Findings

This paper contributes to project founders’ understanding and knowledge of the importance of linguistic style, which can determine the success of a CF project. One of the important results of this study is that the crowd can identify the author’s gender based on their writing style. Through an experiment applying factorial analysis (2 × 2), it was found that people are more concerned about “how it is written” (language style) than with “who it is written by” (gender). This means that the project founder, if they know who their audience is, should know how to write the project proposal so that it fits the audience’s preferences. More specifically, the success rate of CF projects can be increased by integrating suitable word dimensions in promotions of projects on CF platforms. Therefore, it can be argued that linguistic style is a powerful agent for building a connection with a target audience. The findings of this study can be used as theoretical guidance, and eventually, the potential antecedents of funding intention can be further explored.

Research limitations/implications

This study is subject to several limitations. The result is limited to donation-based CF. As this study focuses on the language style of project founders when they describe their CF projects, donation-based CF was the most appropriate platform for this research. In donation-based CF, the style words are more emotion-based, compared to other CF platforms. The experiment, however, could also be replicated for other CF types such as reward-based CF. One important part of CF projects is persuading the crowd to fund them. It is worth mentioning that reward-based CF involves individuals pledging to a business in exchange for a reward. Yet, even though reward-based CF offers rewards, it is generally considered a subset of donation-based CF because there is no financial return to the backer. Therefore, it is suggested that future research should also consider case studies in reward-based CF. Second, from the persuading perspective, this study focusses on narrative language style only, as it facilitates the crowd’s understanding of a CF project. Future study can further focus on other information content such as videos in the project proposal. Prior research has found that providing a video in a CF project increases the crowd’s confidence in funding (Mitra, 2012). The study is also supported by previous studies that suggest producing a higher quality of video in the project proposal positively related to the success of CF projects (Mollick (2014)).

Practical implications

The result of this study empirically confirmed that the crowd’s willingness to fund a project proposal and their trust are dependent on the text description of the project proposal. The project founders need to know how to describe the content of a project so that it signals the quality of the project, especially in early start-ups. In other words, the way that a project is created and published through a CF platform will send a valuable signal to the potential donors about the project, and they will either find it acceptable or reject it. If the project appears to lack demand among potential donors, it is easier for project founders to quickly identify that the project will fail, without the need to invest additional capital.

Social implications

The findings of this study have important social implications that provide guidelines for project founders on establishing a strategy to help the crowd understand their projects. At the same time, the findings can help the crowd to make their funding decisions. First, the text language used in the CF project by the project founder plays an important role in presenting the campaign and all the ideas need to be presented in a clear way so that the crowd understands the project. In CF projects, pitch is everything (Varsamis, 2018). The pitch refers to the text or video that is provided by the project founder to show their project proposal to the crowd. Compared with traditional funding channels (such as venture capital, i.e. banks), CF is more convenient for raising funds. This is because the project founders need to show their ideas in a creative way to the crowd online, rather than preparing a complex plan and racking their brains on how they can persuade investors to participate (Wang and Yang (2019)). This research intends to help project founders understand how they can influence the crowd by improving the text language used in their CF projects.

Originality/value

This paper fulfils an identified need to study how the linguistic style of the project founder would lead to the success rate of crowdfunding projects.

Details

Review of International Business and Strategy, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-6014

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 June 2020

Chang Heon Lee and Heng Yu

Social media have increasingly gained credibility as information sources in emergencies. Retweeting or resharing nature has made Twitter a popular medium of information…

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Abstract

Purpose

Social media have increasingly gained credibility as information sources in emergencies. Retweeting or resharing nature has made Twitter a popular medium of information dissemination. The purpose of this article is to enhance our understanding of both linguistic style and content properties (i.e. both affective and informational contents) that drives resharing behavior or virality of disaster messages on Twitter. We investigate this issue in the context of natural disaster crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, the authors develop, drawing upon language expectancy and uncertainty reduction theories as an enabling framework, hypotheses about how the language (i.e. style and content) influence resharing behavior. They employ a natural language processing of disaster tweets to examine how the language – linguistic style (concrete and interactive language) and linguistic content (information- and affect-focused language) – affects resharing behavior on Twitter during natural disasters. To examine the effects of both linguistic style and content factors on virality, a series of negative binomial regressions were conducted, particularly owing to the highly skewed count data.

Findings

Our analysis of tweets from the 2013 Colorado floods shows that resharing disasters tweets increases with the use of concrete language style during acute emergencies. Interactive language is also positively associated with retweet frequency. In addition, neither positive nor negative emotional tweets drive down resharing during acute crises, while information-focused language content has a significantly positive effect on virality.

Practical implications

Agencies for public safety and disaster management or volunteer organizations involved in disseminating crisis and risk information to the public may leverage the impacts of the linguistic style and language content through the lens of our research model. The findings encourage practitioners to focus on the role of linguistic style cues during acute disasters. Specifically, from the uncertainty reduction perspective, using concrete language in the disaster tweets is the expected norm, leading to a higher likelihood of virality. Also, interactively frame disaster tweets are more likely to be diffused to a larger number of people on Twitter.

Originality/value

The language that people use offer important psychological cue to their intentions and motivations. However, the role of language on Twitter has largely been ignored in this crisis communication and few prior studies have examined the relationship between language and virality during acute emergencies. This article explains the complex and multifaceted nature of information resharing behavior using a multi-theoretical approach – including uncertainty reduction and language expectancy theory – to understand effects of language style and content cues on resharing behavior in the context of natural crisis events.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 120 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2019

Chang Heon Lee, Yiyang Bian, Rajaa Karaouzene and Nasreen Suleiman

The purpose of this paper is to explore how linguistic style and message substance influence persuasion in civic crowdfunding marketplaces in which written narrative pitch become…

1462

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how linguistic style and message substance influence persuasion in civic crowdfunding marketplaces in which written narrative pitch become a vital communication to attract private contributions to public goods and services. Drawing on the elaboration likelihood model (ELM), the authors operationalize the linguistic style of the narrative pitch as language power and message substance as issue-relevant argument quality. In this paper, the authors examine how characteristics of both style and message are related to the outcome of civic crowdfunded projects.

Design/methodology/approach

The data on civic crowdfunding projects were retrieved from Spacehive, the platform that dedicated mainly to civic projects ranging from community programs, social-oriented enterprises, to infrastructure or facility development. Each of the narrative samples is analyzed using a computerized text analysis package called the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to extract the features of the linguistic style and message substance in the narratives. The logistic regression models are estimated to assess the impact of both linguistic style and message substance on crowdfunding decisions.

Findings

The results show that funding outcomes can be improved with psychological language dimensions (i.e. positive affective and perceptual language). However, extensive use of social language does not help project creators to increase their chance of funding performance; but instead, such language reduces the likelihood of project success. Additionally, message substance or issue-relevant information such as money and risk language influences funding outcome.

Originality/value

Very few empirical studies investigated the differential effects of language style and message substance on funding performance of crowdfunding campaigns. The authors draw upon the dual process of persuasion as a theoretical base to identify a comprehensive set of linguistic style and message substance and to examine the role of such features in an emerging civic crowdfunding market. This study advances the application of the dual process in ELM by identifying and examining distinct persuasive cues originating from linguistics styles and message contents.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 119 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1994

Mitch O′Toole

Begins with a treatment of some general background issues on the natureand function of language. Maintains that English may be thought of as arange of styles which are used…

1264

Abstract

Begins with a treatment of some general background issues on the nature and function of language. Maintains that English may be thought of as a range of styles which are used according to purpose and audience. Specialized purposes with specialized audiences produce specialized styles, which means that specialist styles will produce some level of difficulty for most people, particularly speakers of other languages. Sets out some implications of this training, and gives some strategies for approaching training in such a context. Describes a number of ways of estimating the readability of text and gives an example of text simplification. Concludes with a brief description of some strategies for actively teaching those aspects of specialist language which the trainer isolates as being important.

Details

Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 18 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0590

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 May 2023

R.V. ShabbirHusain, Atul Arun Pathak, Shabana Chandrasekaran and Balamurugan Annamalai

This study aims to explore the role of the linguistic style used in the brand-posted social media content on consumer engagement in the Fintech domain.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore the role of the linguistic style used in the brand-posted social media content on consumer engagement in the Fintech domain.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 3,286 tweets (registering nearly 1.35 million impressions) published by 10 leading Fintech unicorns in India were extracted using the Twitter API. The Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) dictionary was used to analyse the linguistic characteristics of the shared tweets. Negative Binomial Regression (NBR) was used for testing the hypotheses.

Findings

This study finds that using drive words and cognitive language increases consumer engagement with Fintech messages via the central route of information processing. Further, affective words and conversational language drive consumer engagement through the peripheral route of information processing.

Research limitations/implications

The study extends the literature on brand engagement by unveiling the effect of linguistic features used to design social media messages.

Practical implications

The study provides guidance to social media marketers of Fintech brands regarding what content strategies best enhance consumer engagement. The linguistic style to improve online consumer engagement (OCE) is detailed.

Originality/value

The study’s findings contribute to the growing stream of Fintech literature by exploring the role of linguistic style on consumer engagement in social media communication. The study’s findings indicate the relevance of the dual processing mechanism of elaboration likelihood model (ELM) as an explanatory theory for evaluating consumer engagement with messages posted by Fintech brands.

Details

International Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 42 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-2323

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 June 2022

Seyyed Mohammad Reza Amirian, Saeed Ghaniabadi, Tahereh Heydarnejad and Saeed Abbasi

Following the significant role of critical thinking (CT), sense of efficacy beliefs and teaching style preferences in the success of teachers and consequently the success of the…

Abstract

Purpose

Following the significant role of critical thinking (CT), sense of efficacy beliefs and teaching style preferences in the success of teachers and consequently the success of the educational system, this study intended to explore their relationship and the possible influence of these three factors among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university professors.

Design/methodology/approach

To this end, Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal-Form A, Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) and Grasha's Teaching Style Inventory (TSI) were administered to 320 Iranian EFL university professors.

Findings

The data were examined via path analysis indicated that teachers' CT abilities and sense of self-efficacy beliefs significantly influenced the teaching style preferences. Moreover, it was concluded that Iranian EFL university professors' CT skills positively affect their sense of efficacy beliefs.

Research limitations/implications

Future studies may advance the possible relationships among the sub-components of CT, self-efficacy beliefs and teaching style. Furthermore, further investigations are recommended to study the influence of university professors' CT, self-efficacy beliefs and teaching style preferences in enhancing their learners' achievement.

Practical implications

The implications of the present study may contribute to the field of teacher education in providing opportunities for teachers to develop and practice higher-order thinking and self-assisted skills.

Social implications

The implications of this study may redound to the advantage of university professors, teacher educators and policy-makers.

Originality/value

This research is original. To the best of the researchers' knowledge, there has been no study investigated the possible relationships between CT, sense of efficacy beliefs and teaching style preferences in higher education.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 15 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 March 2021

Tahereh Heydarnejad, Azar Hosseini Fatemi and Behzad Ghonsooly

For this purpose, Teacher Self-Regulation Scale (TSRS), Emotions Questionnaire for Teachers (EQT) and Grasha's Teaching Style Inventory (TSI) were employed to gauge the influences…

Abstract

Purpose

For this purpose, Teacher Self-Regulation Scale (TSRS), Emotions Questionnaire for Teachers (EQT) and Grasha's Teaching Style Inventory (TSI) were employed to gauge the influences of teacher self-regulation on university teachers' emotions and preferred teaching style. The participants of this study were 320 university teachers, majored in different branches of English (English Literature, English Teaching, English Translation), teaching in different universities of Iran. To shed light on the causal associations, a path analysis was run using LISREL 8.80.

Design/methodology/approach

Following the pivotal role of effective teaching on educational well-being, the present study delve into three significant teacher-related variables i.e. teacher self-regulation, emotions and teaching style. For this purpose, TSRS, EQT, and Grasha's TSI were employed to gauge the influences of teacher self-regulation on university teachers' emotions and preferred teaching style. The participants of this study were 320 university teachers, majored in different branches of English (English Literature, English Teaching, English Translation), teaching in different universities of Iran. To shed light on the causal associations, a path analysis was run using LISREL 8.80.

Findings

Based on the findings, teacher self-regulation predicts pleasant emotions positively; whereas, it predicts unpleasant emotions in a negative direction. The results also demonstrate that teacher self-regulation positively and significantly predicts student-centred styles (Facilitator and Delegator), and the reverse is true for teacher-centred styles (Formal Authority, Personal Model, and Expert).

Research limitations/implications

Future studies may advance the possible relationships among the subscales of teacher self-regulation, teacher emotion and teaching style. Also, further investigations are suggested to target the teacher self-regulation, teacher emotion and teaching style in enhancing language learners' achievement.

Practical implications

In effect, the findings of the current study contribute to the fields of teacher psychology and teacher education. The implications of this study may open another perspective into university teachers’ psychological well-being and professional development.

Social implications

The implications of this study may redound to the advantage of policy makers, curriculum designers, teacher educators, as well as university teachers.

Originality/value

The implications of this study may redound to the advantage of policy-makers, curriculum designers, teacher educators and university teachers.

Details

Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-7003

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 February 2024

Juan Camilo Carvajal Builes, Idaly Barreto and Carolina Gutiérrez de Piñeres

This study aims to describe and analyze the differences in the linguistic styles of honest and dishonest stories.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to describe and analyze the differences in the linguistic styles of honest and dishonest stories.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a descriptive study with a multivariate analysis of linguistic categories according to the story. The research analyzed 37 honest stories and 15 dishonest stories produced during actual legal proceedings through software Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC).

Findings

The authors find that individuals who engage in deception use a different number of words when they narrate facts. The results suggest a need for additional investigation of the linguistic style approach because of its high applicability and detection accuracy. This approach should be complemented by other types of verbal, nonverbal and psychophysiological deception detection techniques.

Research limitations/implications

Among the limitations, the authors consider length of the stories should be considered and scarce scientific literature in Spanish to compare with outcomes in English.

Practical implications

This research highlights the relevance to include linguistic style in real contexts to differentiate honest and dishonest stories due to objectivity and agility to implement.

Social implications

Understanding deception as a social behaviour and its psychological processes associated are elements that contribute to people and justice to comprehend it.

Originality/value

Analyzing real statements and discriminate differences in linguistic style, contribute to understand deeply this important behaviour to propose new methodologies and theories to explain it.

Details

The Journal of Forensic Practice, vol. 26 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2050-8794

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 September 2001

Naoki Kameda

An advisory group to the Prime Minister proposed early this year that Japan should consider making English its official second language. This proposal has proven highly…

4055

Abstract

An advisory group to the Prime Minister proposed early this year that Japan should consider making English its official second language. This proposal has proven highly controversial, igniting a national debate. While the philosophical debate rages, many in the business community say they face an urgent need to use English to cope with increasing economic globalization. Both the proposal and the claim presuppose that Japanese cannot communicate well simply because they cannot use English well. However, we should understand that linguistic capability and communicative competency are two different things. To improve their communicative competency in business situations, Japanese businesspeople should first be aware of the unique characteristics of their own language habits which are deeply rooted in their ethics. If properly coordinated with English, a widely used international business language, a human‐oriented Japanese communication style may find its way into the global business communication of the twenty‐first century.

Details

Corporate Communications: An International Journal, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1356-3289

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 30000