By Zachariah C. Brown, Eric M. Anicich & Adam D. Galinsky<\/p>
Research shows we use buzzwords to impress our colleagues\u2014but they often have the opposite effect.<\/strong> HBR explains.<\/strong><\/p> Whether it\u2019s synergistically leveraging strategic competitive advantages or disintermediating retail channels with bleeding-edge technologies, workplace jargon is a staple of the modern organization. Yet few things are more universally annoying. People love to complain about jargon, saying that it\u2019s unnecessary, empty, pretentious, or hard to understand. Organizational researchers use it to measure employee perceptions of \u201cbullshit<\/a>\u201d at their offices. Many industry<\/a> and government leaders<\/a> criticize it or have even tried to regulate against its use. Despite these complaints, however, jargon continues to thrive in most professions. Whether you\u2019re a consultant, nurse, truck driver, or librarian, you probably hear and use a fair amount of jargon. But if jargon is so disliked, why is it so common?<\/p> To answer this question, we must first define what we mean by \u201cjargon.\u201d Jargon refers to terms, expressions, or acronyms that are specific to a particular industry or professional group. Each industry has its own jargon, and it\u2019s used in place of more easily understood, less-professional alternatives. Like fashion, it\u2019s often faddish, changing seasonally (\u201ccutting edge\u201d became \u201cbleeding edge\u201d after \u201cthink outside the box\u201d became a cliche). It can include metaphors, figures of speech, acronyms, or repurposed terms (for example, \u201ca 30,000-foot view,\u201d \u201cEOD,\u201d or \u201cdisrupt\u201d).<\/p> While people sometimes use the terms jargon and slang interchangeably, they\u2019re not the same thing. Slang is informal and used in more social settings. They are related, however, as both slang and jargon convey information not only about what the speaker is saying, but also about the speaker themselves.<\/p> Jargon thrives in workplaces because it fulfils a number of fundamental needs. In some contexts, it produces efficient and accurate communication. For example, air traffic controllers speak with a phonetic alphabet instead of letters for this very reason (for example, reading a plane tail number as \u201cAlpha Bravo12\u201d instead of \u201cAB12\u201d). Jargon can also facilitate social bonding between speakers and audiences by reinforcing a shared identity. Google, for example, helps new recruits learn \u201cgoogly\u201d terms during their onboarding. Jargon is also a linguistic tool that people can use \u2014 consciously or unconsciously \u2014 to signal their membership in a professional community. For example, using the term \u201cink stick\u201d instead of \u201cpen\u201d might signal current or former membership in the U.S. military.<\/p> In our research, we examined another motive for using jargon: Insecurity and the desire for status in one\u2019s profession. Research has shown<\/a> that status brings influence, material benefits, and psychological well-being to those who have it, whereas lacking status leaves one vulnerable to misfortune. People often compensate for a lack of status by trying to signal that they have more of it than they actually do. They may conspicuously advertise their accomplishments or highlight their memberships in prestigious groups. For example, lower-status academics are more likely to include \u201cDr.\u201d or \u201cPhD\u201d in their email signatures<\/a> than those with higher status. Experiments have also shown that people who feel insecure about their status are willing to spend more on visible high-status consumer products<\/a>, but won\u2019t spend more on products nobody will see.<\/p> Building on this work, we explored whether having lower professional status motivates people to use more jargon in the workplace. We focus specifically on professional status (and not general socioeconomic status), because each profession has high- and low-status members within it. Across a series of studies<\/a>, we confirmed that jargon sometimes functions like a fancy title, a conspicuously displayed trophy, or an expensive, branded watch \u2014 people use it to signal status and show off to others.<\/strong><\/p>