It’s the stupidest people in the office who use the most business jargon, study finds Get your news delivered straight to you by 7am – sign up to our new Morning Mail newsletter for FREE See more Daily Mail on Google – save us as a Preferred Source By NOOR QURASHI, NEWS REPORTER Published: 01:09 BST, 27 May 2026 | Updated: 01:10 BST, 27 May 2026 Using business jargon in the office is a sign of lower intelligence, a study has found. Researchers say employees
who are impressed by corporate ‘waffle’ score lower on tests of analytical thinking and problem solving. The findings, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, suggest people use the language to ‘create inflated perceptions of [their] knowledge, skills, status, accomplishments, ideas, or agenda’. Phrases of choice include ‘active stakeholder engagement’ – which means going to talk to customers; and promising to ‘leverage’ something – meaning you are going to use it. Participants in the study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, were
asked to rate different passages of text and were given a ranking on the Corporate Bull**** Receptivity Scale. People who scored higher were less likely to show signs of strong analytical thinking and were more likely to make bad business decisions. In one part of the experiment, the more than 1,000 office participants were given workplace scenarios. One scenario saw a restaurant introduce a new payment system. Participants were told they had spent weeks training staff on it – only for the IT department to
cancel the upgrade because of bugs. Phrases of choice include ‘active stakeholder engagement’ – which means going to talk to customers; and promising to ‘leverage’ something – meaning you are going to use it (file image) Asked to choose the best response to staff angry at the wasted training, the highest-scoring option was to speak to IT to check if reverting the old system was the best option, consider alternatives, then explain the plan to staff to address their concerns. But those most impressed by
corporate jargon were more likely to choose lower-scoring options such as going home and trying to fix the technical problems themselves. The study also found they liked their jobs more and had a better opinion of their bosses – and were more likely to be stirred by company mission statements and report being happy at work. ‘Corporate bull****’ is a term used by a growing number of academics to describe a style of communication typically padded out with buzzwords that make simple ideas harder to
understand. Shane Littrell, a cognitive psychologist at Cornell University, who created the scale, said the findings created a ‘concerning cycle’. He added: ‘Employees who are more likely to fall for corporate bull**** may help elevate the types of dysfunctional leaders who are more likely to use it, creating a sort of negative feedback loop.’ Share or comment on this article: It’s the stupidest people in the office who use the most business jargon, study finds Add comment
business jargon, corporate bull****, analytical thinking, Corporate Bull**** Receptivity Scale, Personality and Individual Differences, workplace decisions, inflated perceptions
So basically if you say leverage you’re dumb? cool.
I don’t buy it. People use jargon because everyone else talks like that, not because they’re stupid. Half the time it’s just HR stuff anyway.
Wait does this mean my manager “active stakeholder engagement”ing me is like… an IQ thing? I always thought it was more like they’re avoiding actual answers. Also the restaurant example sounds fake like who trains weeks then cancels for bugs??
I’m telling you jargon is just corporate cosplay. Like if they can’t explain it normal, they don’t know what they’re doing. But also sometimes you have to talk that way or nobody gets it, like you’re stuck in meetings forever so you say what they want to hear. Still, “leverage” is the worst word ever, like just say use it lol.