Exploring corporate rhetoric: Metadiscourse in the CEO's letter

Abstract

This article explores how CEOs attempt to influence readers and project a positive personal and corporate image in company annual reports. It examines the role of metadiscourse, as a manifestation of the writer's linguistic and rhetorical presence in a text, to show how CEOs use non-propositional material to realize rational, credible, and affective appeals. The findings are based on a close textual and linguistic analysis of 137 CEOs' letters drawn from a range of international and Hong Kong companies, representing a mix of high- and medium-performing corporations from various business sectors and registered with the three major Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong. Metadiscourse allows CEOs to control the information they provide by using expressions that organize and evaluate that information in order to direct readers how they should understand and appraise the subject matter. The analysis reveals the essentially rhetorical nature of CEOs' letters by comparing the frequency and distribution of metadiscourse in CEOs' letters and directors' reports taken from the same annual reports. The study suggests a descriptive framework for metadiscourse in business communication and points to the need for a rhetorical awareness of this persuasive genre. © 1998 by the Association for Business Communication.