Study: When CEOs mention death, investors pay attention

CEO speeches during company earnings calls typically include a rah-rah message reassuring investors, reinforcing confidence in strategy and recapping company wins.

Investors hear these messages quarter after quarter, and predictability makes them easy to tune out. But new research suggests attention spikes when executives break that script in an unexpected way—by referencing death.

“Investors expect CEOs to talk about how competent and accomplished they are, so they don’t pay close attention,” said Tony Kong, a professor of organizational leadership and information analytics at the Leeds School of Business and a co-author of the study, published online in April 2026 in the Journal of Management. “What surprised us was how quickly attention changed when death entered the conversation.”

Tony Kong

Russell Cropanzano

Death references could be literal, such as a pharmaceutical executive explaining that a treatment could mean the difference between “life and death” for a cancer patient, but they could also be figurative.

“Even saying things like ‘you’re dead right’ or ‘dead wrong’ made investors more alert and engaged with what the CEO said next,” Kong said.

The shock of the unexpected matters. When CEOs stick to the usual upbeat script, investors tend to stop listening closely. But a mention of death snaps their attention back and makes the rest of the message land differently, Kong said.

The study asked 600 people to review CEO statements that varied in how much they emphasized achievement and whether they included death-related language. The researchers also analyzed thousands of real earnings‑call transcripts from U.S. public companies between 2018 and 2022, using linguistic software, then examined market responses including stock returns, trading volume and investor sentiment.

Across the studies, the researchers found that CEOs talking up their wins and strengths had little effect on investor reactions. That’s partly because positive language doesn’t stand out on its own, said co-author Russell Cropanzano, a professor of organizational leadership and information analytics at Leeds. 

“There’s a classic finding in psychology that bad information stands out more than good,” Cropanzano said. “Achievement talk is usually positive, so investors may tune it out. But when something threatening enters the picture, like thoughts of death, it grabs attention and makes people more focused on what comes next.”

This effect, what psychologists call “mortality salience,” can arouse fear and anxiety. Investors try to manage that discomfort, often unconsciously, by turning to familiar leadership stereotypes, Kong said. 

“Investors start seeing the CEO as agentic—confident, intelligent and competent,” he said, “and then they evaluate the firm to be more attractive for investment.”

The study’s results show that when CEOs paired claims of success with references to death, investors paid closer attention—reacting more strongly than they do to typical upbeat messaging, trading more and expressing less negative sentiment. In the field study, even small increases in both types of language were linked to about a 3% rise in trading volume and a drop in negative sentiment.

The findings point to an uncomfortable reality: Subtle word choices can shape how investors think and respond.

“Investors are mostly rational, from an economic standpoint,” Cropanzano said. “But when you’re talking about this much money, even small psychological nudges can add up to real financial impact.”

At the same time, the researchers stressed that the results shouldn’t be seen as a playbook.

“I’d be cautious about treating this as a tactic to move investors,” Kong said. “The lesson isn’t to use death language on purpose, but that when it comes up, leaders shouldn’t ignore it. They should address it honestly and show they’re capable of handling what comes next.”

Kong emphasized that the study isn’t an argument for darker messaging. “Used sporadically, this creates a psychological environment where communication becomes more effective,” Kong said.

At its core, he added, the study is about attention and how people make sense of information. “People are motivated to make sense of things that are surprising or disruptive,” Kong said.