Organisational purpose: the construct and its antecedents and consequences

Victoria Hurth, Charles Ebert and Jaideep Prabhu
Additional contact information
Jaideep Prabhu: Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Working Papers from Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge

Abstract: This paper explores organizational purpose as a distinct, emerging, practitioner-led concept that places a specific meaningful motivation at the heart of organizations - even established for-profits. Using a discovery-orientated, theories-in-use approach, the authors identify organizational purpose as an organization’s meaningful and enduring reason to exist that aligns with long-term financial performance, provides a clear context for daily decision making, and unifies and motivates relevant stakeholders. Combining in-depth interviews with extant theory and supporting artefacts, the authors provide a robust description of the phenomenon, establish the concept’s uniqueness, identify antecedents and consequences, propose intervening conditions, and offer insights into how firms can develop an organizational purpose within their organizations. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of the concept for research and practice.

Keywords: Organizational purpose; Purpose; Meaning; Organizational identity; Orientation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-07
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/wp1802.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jbs:wpaper:201802

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ruth Newman ().