The Thing People Do At Work To Look Highly Intelligent That Usually Means They’re Incompetent, According To Study
Vukasin Ljustina / Shutterstock Corporate jargon has become a sort of disguise that workers use to come off as more intelligent in the workplace. Beneath the polished language, however, the meaning can often get lost, leaving an unclear and sometimes incompetent message.
When jargon replaces direct communication, it becomes harder for teams to identify and solve real problems. A disconnect forms, one where style and appearances drive success, while genuine expertise falls behind. And let's be real, it comes across as pretty pretentious, too.
According to a recent study, people who use corporate jargon tend to be seen as more incompetent.
The research, published by Cornell University scholar Shane Littrell in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, covered four studies with over 1,000 participants from the U.S. and Canada. Using this data, Littrell was able to create a "Receptivity Scale" to determine how easily workers are swayed by nonsense corporate jargon.
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To clarify, the term "corporate jargon" describes workplace communication that uses certain buzzwords and phrases to sound meaningful, when in reality they're misleading and lack substance. For example, one might say "bandwidth" in reference to their capacity to work, or "pivot" when they're talking about shifting strategy. This kind of language is perceived negatively in the business world when compared to legitimate professional terminology.
In these studies, the researchers generated statements based on Fortune 500 executive communications that included corporate language and phrases. Participants were then asked to rate how persuasive and "business savvy" they found each one to be, even though the content was designed to be meaningless.
The results showed that being receptive to corporate jargon is actually a measurable trait.
Those who were found to be more receptive to the statements presented in the study had higher scores on Littrell's scale, but had a weaker performance in tests of analytic thinking and fluid intelligence. They also had worse results in a workplace decision-making simulation. Even after accounting for other factors, such as job satisfaction and trust in management, there remained a significant association between higher receptivity to corporate jargon and poorer cognitive performance.
Additionally, participants who were more accepting of buzzword-heavy corporate speak reported being more likely to use similar language themselves. Littrell did warn, however, that the scale is not intended to be used like a traditional cognitive assessment and requires further research on its effectiveness.
Corporate jargon can have some unexpected consequences in the workplace.
Another study from the University of Florida discovered that using corporate language can hurt employee morale. Olivia Bullock, Ph.D., an assistant professor of advertising at the University of Florida and co-author of the new study, explains, "You need people to be willing to collaborate, share ideas, and look for more information if they don't understand something at work, and jargon might actually be impeding that information flow across teams."
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The researchers surveyed nearly 2,000 people, giving half of them a fake email filled with jargon and the other half the same email in plain language. Unsurprisingly, it was harder for the first group to process the information in the message amidst all the technical phrases. When asked how they would respond to the email, they were insecure and less likely to ask for help.
"They weren’t as willing to collaborate,” Bullock adds. “If you can’t ask for more information or share that information downstream, you’re creating silos, and that’s disrupting your workflow and environment."
Kayla Asbach is a writer currently working on her bachelor's degree at the University of Central Florida. She covers relationships, psychology, self-help, pop culture, and human interest topics.
