An Appraisal Analysis Of CEOs' Risk Discourse In Letters To Shareholders Of Chinese And American Listed Banks

Letters to shareholders in corporate annual reports are the statements delivered directly by corporate top executives.Found usually in the first few parts of annual reports,they are certainly the most widely read.As an important medium for corporate top executives to convey important information to investors,the risk discourse reflects their perception of the process and results of a company's risk management.Therefore,it deserves special attention.Extensive studies have been conducted concerning the letters to shareholders and corporate risk management,but little research has explored the risk perception of these top executives.Based on Martin's appraisal theory,this study conducts a comparative analysis of CEOs' risk discourse from Chinese and American listed banks to explore how their risk perceptions are conveyed through appraisal discourse and the differences and similarities between Chinese and American CEOs' risk discourse.Based on the letters to shareholders within the last ten years(2008-2017)in corporate annual reports in Chinese and American listed banks that rank in the top500 companies in 2018 Fortune,this study chooses CEOs' risk discourse as its corpus.From the perspective of Martin's appraisal theory,it attempts to carry out appraisal analysis of the linguistic features of Chinese and American CEOs' risk discourse in terms of attitude,engagement and graduation.The findings are as follows:(1)In Chinese and American CEOs' risk discourse,the attitude resources account for the largest proportion,most of which are positive judgment and appreciation resources to evaluate the banks' risk management capabilities and achievements.Most negative resources are appreciation resources,but the negative appreciation resources in Chinese CEOs' risk discourse are mostly used to evaluate different risks faced by the banks,and inBanks American CEOs' risk discourse are almost equally distributed to evaluate different risks faced by the banks and the banks' risk management capabilities.(2)In the engagement system,Chinese CEOs' risk discourses employ many monoglossic resources to show the authority of their discourses and their risk perception.Compared with Chinese CEOs' risk discourse,there are many heteroglossic resources in American CEOs' risk discourse to show their risk perception.In heteroglossic,the disclaim and entertainment resources are the most frequently used to present CEOs' risk perception.(3)In the graduation system,both Chinese and American CEOs' risk discourses use vast force resources to convey their risk perception,and most force resources are upscaling.(4)A great number of positive and upscaling resources used in Chinese and American CEOs' risk discourse reflect a certain degree of impression management,especially in Chinese CEOs' risk discourse;American CEOs' risk discourse is more subjective,using more affect and reaction resources to present risk perceptions.Through the comparative analysis of the CEOs' risk discourse in Chinese and American listed banks,the findings of this research can help investors to identify CEOs' language techniques in their risk discourse to some extent.Meanwhile,this study also has some implications for Chinese CEOs to convey their risk perception to international investors.