NEWS & INSIGHT
LINGUISTIC DIFFERENCES FUEL INVESTMENT
SCHOOL: Bayes Business School, City University COUNTRY: UK
How close does the future feel? People are more likely to invest in crowdfunding entrepreneurial ventures when a pitch is delivered in a language that blurs the present and the future, according to new research from Bayes Business School. The premise is that some languages create a perception that the future is closer temporally to the present than others. These are called ‘weak-future’ languages and they include Chinese, whereas an example of a ‘strong-future’ language in a characteristic known as the Future-Time Reference (FTR) is English. In the first of two studies in the research, it was found that people engaged more heavily in crowdfunding investments where a weak-future language is prevalent across 53 countries. In the second study, an analysis of 77 bilingual Chinese students (speaking English and Chinese) found that individuals were more likely to invest following a pitch in Chinese (ie the weak-future language) than one delivered in the strong-future language of English. This study also confirmed that the first study’s findings were driven by linguistic rather than cultural di erences. “The overall study demonstrates that the perception among weak-future speakers of a future that is close results in the future assuming greater psychological importance, which increases the higher present value of a future reward. This in turn inspires higher current investment,” reasoned co-author and entrepreneurship professor at Bayes Business School Vangelis Souitaris. It also provides an interesting example of how variations in a language’s characteristics, such as FTR, can influence behaviour. “It contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by linking entrepreneurial finance to a linguistic perspective of entrepreneurship,” Souitaris added . TBD
PUTTING WORDS INTO ACTION ON SUSTAINABILITY
SCHOOL: IÉSEG School of Management COUNTRY: France
It’s becoming increasingly common for business schools to emphasise how they are embedding sustainability issues into their teaching. While this is a much-needed development, it’s also important for schools to ensure that they walk the talk when it comes to meeting environmental goals in their operations. IÉSEG School of Management in France has made a number of changes to reduce its climate impact and recently published the results of an initiative aimed at diminishing the school’s energy consumption that was launched in October 2022. The school has since implemented measures that include new timeslots for permanent lighting, the reduction of heating temperatures to 19 degrees Celsius across all the campuses and the closure of buildings during holidays. The short-term goal was to reduce energy consumption by 15 per cent during the winter of 2022-23, but IÉSEG has already registered an 18 per cent decrease in electricity consumption on its Lille campus and a 28 per cent drop on its Paris campus. These savings equate to the typical annual energy consumption of nine 150 square-metre houses, according to the school. Heating consumption, meanwhile, is down by 24 per cent on each campus – the equivalent of the annual energy consumption of 30 houses of 100 square metres. Alongside these operational changes, IÉSEG has also connected its buildings to urban heating networks, leading to a reduction in the school’s carbon footprint. The energy initiative is one arm of IÉSEG’s environmental commitments – the school also signed the Grenoble Agreement in 2022 and the Lille Low Carbon Pact In 2021. In addition, it has started an employee training plan to further understanding of sustainable development and diversity among its own people. These initiatives combined are designed to allow IÉSEG to meet the institution’s long-term aims of reducing its carbon footprint by 30 per cent and its energy consumption by 40 per cent by 2030, as compared to its figures from 2019. EB
Ambition | JULY/AUGUST 2023 | 11
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