Calling Bullshit: A Study on Pseudo-Profound Bullshit in a Business Context

Sammanfattning: The global concern for fake news, pseudo-science, and conspiracy theories is growing, fueling research on why individuals are receptive to this kind of information as well as on the factors that contribute to this phenomenon. Pseudo-profound bullshit, which is randomly generated and designed to impress without any regard for the truth, has become a relevant field of research in this regard. However, reviewing relevant literature has opened up a knowledge gap when it comes to applying pseudo-profound bullshit to different areas, such as the field of business. This thesis sets out to address this gap, extending existing research by investigating business oriented pseudo-profound bullshit and its antecedents. Specifically, human factors, in the form of cognitive abilities and familiarity, as well as task characteristics, measured through fluency and English proficiency, and their influence on bullshit receptivity are investigated. Whereas the former has been examined in relation to pseudo-profound bullshit before, the latter presents a new angle bridging the current field of research with the field of fluency. Two quantitative studies were performed to examine said relationships. The first study (n = 113), distributed to students via an online survey, showed that individuals are indeed receptive to pseudo-profound bullshit in a business context, but neither human factors nor task characteristics have been shown to have a significant impact on said receptivity. The second study (n = 185), which was conducted through an online data collection service, mostly confirmed the results but provided partial support for analytic cognitive capabilities having a negative impact on bullshit profundity ratings, implying that individuals with high analytic capabilities may be better able to see through bullshit. These findings imply that receptivity to business oriented pseudo-profound bullshit proves to be a worthy topic for further research in order to better understand antecedents and factors contributing to the phenomenon.