Cross-Cultural Variation in Corporate Self-Praise: A Comparative Study of French and U.S. Press Releases
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This study examines how two French and two U.S. companies engage in self-praise in press releases. Drawing on politeness theory and previous research on press releases, it focuses on salient forms of self-praise (sentences containing at least one intensified subjective or objective linguistic element) and explores how these are pragmatically mitigated. The results show several shared tendencies across the French and U.S. corpora. Roughly half of all salient self-praise remains pragmatically unmitigated, while explicit self-praise clearly dominates. Mitigation strategies mainly operate through shifts in perspective, including third-party praise, self-quotation, and several forms of implicit self-praise that redirect attention to benefits for third parties, product qualities, or emotional stances. Despite these similarities, cross-cultural differences emerge. U.S. press releases contain a significantly higher density of self-praise markers than French ones, suggesting a greater tolerance for assertive self-promotion. Differences also appear in the use of point-of-view distancing and self-quotations. Overall, the findings suggest that the modesty principle operates not only in interpersonal facework but also in the management of professional face in institutional communication.
Authors: Els Tobback, Sien Moens
Institution: University of Antwerp
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,550
OpenAlex ID: W7161986252