Analysis of the Occurrence of Machiavellian and Narcissistic Discourse in the Management Reports of Firms Involved in Financial Scandals

Abstract

Objective: This paper’s motivation is to study the existence of words that display linguistic traits of Machiavellianism and Narcissism in the discourse of company leaders who are involved in corruption scandals in Brazil, in the light of Upper Echelons theory. Method: We analyzed the discourse of the leaders in the annual report of the companies Odebrecht S.A. and OAS S.A. The leaders studied are involved in fraudulent negotiations detected by Lava Jato Operation, an investigation carried out by the Federal Police of Brazil. The methodological procedures are based on the three-dimensional framework of discourse: text, discursive practice and social practice. Findings: The results suggest that the use of words such as “our”, “strong”, “development”, “great”, “larger”, “president”, “confidence” and “values” imply narcissistic traits. The semantic analysis of the acts of discourse, though, displays machiavellian traits. Contribution: We hope to instigate studies that focus on social changes deriving from the delivery of the referred discourse, and that they may incite, in the main users of the information in the companies’ management reports, the recognition of discourse that mask the organizations’ actual situation, with the purpose of generating personal and business profits, disregarding concerns with the damages society may face.