Corporate Disclosure During COVID-19: A Close Reading and Discourse Analysis

Tolulola Lawal University of London

Abstract

We conduct a close reading and micro-level analysis of a market update released by Restaurant Group Plc, a UK leisure firm, during the COVID-19 pandemic to examine its communication functions. While the market update aligns with communicative action theory by enhancing information transparency, it also deploys various rhetorical strategies, including impersonalization, positive self-evaluation, and metaphors consistent with impression management. The overly optimistic tone bears no relation to subsequent corporate outcomes. This study provides valuable insights for business and professional communication practitioners and students, enabling them to interpret the linguistic characteristics of market updates as a distinct genre of corporate communication.

Journal
Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
Published
2025-09-04
DOI
10.1177/23294906251358385
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
OA PDF Hybrid
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

References (64) · 2 in this index

  1. Barron O. E. Kile C. O. O’Keefe T. B. (1999). MD&A quality as measured by the SEC and analysts’ earnings fore…
  2. Beattie V. McInnes B. Fearnley S. (2004). A methodology for analysing and evaluating narratives in annual rep…
  3. The discursive representation of social actors in the corporate social responsibility (CS…
    Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines
  4. Billig M. (2011). Writing social psychology: Fictional things and unpopulated texts. British Journal of Socia…
  5. 10.1002/9781118748213.ch8
Show all 64 →
  1. Brennan N. M. Daly C. A. Harrington C. S. (2010). Rhetoric argument and impression management in hostile take…
  2. Brennan N. M. Merkl-Davies D. M. (2014). Rhetoric and argument in social and environmental reporting: The Dir…
  3. Brühl R. Kury M. (2019). Rhetorical tactics to influence responsibility judgments: Account giving in banks pr…
  4. Budescu D. V. Weinberg S. Wallsten T. S. (1988). Decisions based on numerically and verbally expressed uncert…
  5. Bui B. Moses O. Dumay J. (2021). The rhetoric of New Zealand’s COVID-19 response. Accounting Auditing & Accou…
  6. Burgoon J. K. Hale J. L. (1988). Nonverbal expectancy violations: Model elaboration and application to immedi…
  7. Caballero R. (2003). Metaphor and genre: The presence and role of metaphor in the building review. Applied Li…
  8. Calsamiglia H. Ferrero C. L. (2003). Role and position of scientific voices: Reported speech in the media. Di…
  9. Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Passivisation. In dictionary.cambridge.org dictionary. https://dictionary.cambr…
  10. 10.1057/9780230000612
  11. 10.1163/9789004333710_009
  12. 10.1057/9780230319899
  13. Christopher A. (2022). Investors’ chronicle: Smart metering systems Fevertree restaurant group. Financial Tim…
  14. Clatworthy M. A. Jones M. J. (2003). Financial reporting of good news and bad news: Evidence from accounting …
  15. Clatworthy M. A. Jones M. J. (2006). Differential patterns of textual characteristics and company performance…
  16. Cooper S. Slack R. (2015). Reporting practice impression management and company performance: A longitudinal a…
  17. Craig R. Amernic J. (2004). The deployment of accounting-related rhetoric in the prelude to a privatization. …
  18. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly
  19. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  20. 10.4324/9780203697078
  21. Ferguson J. (2007). Analysing accounting discourse: Avoiding the “fallacy of internalism.” Accounting Auditin…
  22. 10.1057/crr.2008.32
  23. The theory of communicative action
  24. Henry E. (2008). Are investors influenced by how earnings press releases are written? The Journal of Business…
  25. Higgins C. Walker R. (2012). Ethos logos pathos: Strategies of persuasion in social/environmental reports. Ac…
  26. Im J. Kim H. Miao L. (2021). CEO letters: Hospitality corporate narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inte…
  27. 10.1515/9781614514862-024
  28. Jonäll K. Rimmel G. (2010). CEO letters as legitimacy builders: Coupling text to numbers. Journal of Human Re…
  29. Kalyeena. (2023). The Restaurant Group to go private after accepting £506m takeover bid. The Guardian. https:…
  30. Metaphor: A practical introduction
  31. Lakoff G. (1991). Metaphor and war: The metaphor system used to justify war in the Gulf (pp. 25-32). Peace Re…
  32. Metaphors we live by
  33. 10.1525/9780520912045
  34. Li Z. Haque S. (2019). Corporate social responsibility employment narratives: A linguistic analysis. Accounti…
  35. Linsley P. M. Lawrence M. J. (2007). Risk reporting by the largest UK companies: Readability and lack of obfu…
  36. Martins A. Gomes D. Oliveira L. Ribeiro J. L. (2019). Telling a success story through the president’s letter.…
  37. Mercer M. (2004). How do investors assess the credibility of management disclosures? Accounting Horizons 18(3…
  38. Discretionary disclosure strategies in corporate narratives: Incremental information or i…
    Journal of Accounting Literature
  39. Merkl-Davies D. M. Koller V. (2012). ‘Metaphoring’ people out of this world: A critical discourse analysis of…
  40. Nair R. Arshad R. Abd Aziz A. Z. Muda R. (2021). A critical reading of impression management in times of fina…
  41. Oliver B. (2023). Activist investor threatens to push for removal of The Restaurant Group boss. Financial Tim…
  42. Oliver B. Will L. (2023). Apollo to buy Wagamama owner in £506mn deal. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/co…
  43. Patelli L. Pedrini M. (2014). Is the optimism in CEO’s letters to shareholders sincere? Impression management…
  44. Impression management: The self-concept, social identity, and interpersonal relations
  45. The passive: A comparative linguistic analysis
  46. Slaney K. L. Garcia D. A. (2015). Constructing psychological objects: The rhetoric of constructs. Journal of …
  47. Stibbe A. (2013). The corporation as person and psychopath: Multimodal metaphor rhetoric and resistance. Crit…
  48. Stone G. Parker L. D. (2013). Developing the Flesch reading ease formula for the contemporary accounting comm…
  49. The London Stock Exchange. (2023). Removal—Restaurant Group Plc. Author. https://www.londonstockexchange.com/…
  50. 10.1177/002194369703400103
  51. Researching society and culture
  52. Tourish D. Hargie O. (2012). Metaphors of failure and the failures of metaphor: A critical study of root meta…
  53. Tversky A. Kahneman D. (1981). The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice. Science 211(4481) 453-4…
  54. Wallsten T. S. Budescu D. V. Zwick R. (1993). Comparing the calibration and coherence of numerical and verbal…
  55. Walters M. (2004). Alternative accounting thought and the prison-house of metaphor. Accounting Organizations …
  56. Walters-York L. M. (1996). Metaphor in accounting discourse. Accounting Auditing & Accountability Journal 9(5…
  57. Attitude and arguability: Appraisal and the linguistics of solidarity
  58. Describing discourse: A practical guide to discourse analysis
  59. Yuthas K. Rogers R. Dillard J. F. (2002). Communicative action and corporate annual reports. Journal of Busin…