Understanding the Evolution of Theoretical Constructs in Organization Studies: Examining “Purpose”

Singleton, Laura

doi:10.5465/ambpp.2014.246

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…The idea of shared purpose has only recently resurfaced in management discourse after a long period of neglect (Singleton, 2011(Singleton, , 2014. Mary Parker Follett wrote in 1927:…”

Section: Shared Purpose and Its Impedimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaboration as an Organization Design for Shared Purpose

Adler¹,

Heckscher²

2018

Research in the Sociology of Organizations

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"Shared purpose," understood as a widely shared commitment to the organization's fundamental raison d'eˆtre, can be a powerful driver of organizational performance by providing both motivation and direction for members' joint problem-solving efforts. So far, however, we understand little about the organization design that can support shared purpose in the context of large, complex business enterprises. Building on the work of Selznick and Weber, we argue that such contexts require a new organizational form, one that we call collaborative. The collaborative organizational form is grounded in Weber's value-rational type of social action, but overcomes the scale limitations of the collegial form of organization that is conventionally associated with value-rational action. We identify four organizational principles that characterize this collaborative form and a range of managerial policies that can implement those principles.

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“…The idea of shared purpose has only recently resurfaced in management discourse after a long period of neglect (Singleton, 2011(Singleton, , 2014. Mary Parker Follett wrote in 1927:…”

Section: Shared Purpose and Its Impedimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaboration as an Organization Design for Shared Purpose

Adler¹,

Heckscher²

2018

Research in the Sociology of Organizations

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“…Throughout the past century, the concept of organizational purpose has been subject to dichotomous meanings and interpretations, pendulating back and forth depending on its Zeitgeist (Singleton, 2014). On the one hand, the meaning of organizational purpose has been seen as instrumental, objective, functional, and outward focused and synonymously used with words such as end, aim, goal, or objective (Drucker, 1954;Friedman, 1970;Jensen, 2002).…”

Section: Theoretical Background Historical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Strikingly, the term objective led to a more quantifiable measure, such as profit maximization (Friedman, 1970), instead of the function that purpose used to encompass, leading to confusion about profit being the purpose of the organization. As a consequence, the concept of organizational purpose has suffered from a lack of importance for and attention by academics throughout the century and the dichotomous nature of purpose led to a tension in using the term that is still present in contemporary times (Singleton, 2014).…”

Section: Theoretical Background Historical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The lack of clear terminologies and a uniform definition that fits the present Zeitgeist (Montgomery, 2019;Williams, 2019;Mañas-Viniegra et al, 2020), multiple meanings (Hirsch and Levin, 1999), and misinterpretations (Oswald, 2019) of organizational purpose have occurred, which hinder theory (Hirsch and Levin, 1999;MacKenzie et al, 2011;Singleton, 2014) and scale development (MacKenzie et al, 2011). In view of these oversights in the existing literature, the present interview study aims to enhance the academic and societal conversations on organizational purpose through the meaningmaking of experts, thereby providing a definition and an explanatory conceptual model including drivers of purpose and aspects influencing the effects of purpose on outcomes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring the Meaning of Organizational Purpose at a New Dawn: The Development of a Conceptual Model Through Expert Interviews

et al. 2021

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Organizational purpose has flourished in the professional management literature, yet despite increased scholarly interest, academic knowledge and empirical research on the topic remain scarce. Moreover, studies that have been conducted contain important oversights including the lack of a clear conceptualization and misinterpretations that hinder the further development and understanding of organizational purpose. In view of these shortcomings, our interview study aimed to contribute to academic and societal conversations on the contemporary meaning and function of organizational purpose considering the voices and perspectives of 44 global experts. Employing template analysis, we defined organizational purpose as “an organization’s reason for being characterized by significance, aspiration, direction, unification, and motivation.” Moreover, we proposed an explanatory conceptual model, including drivers and outcomes of purpose, important boundary conditions, and explanatory mechanisms. Drawing on self-determination theory, person–organization fit theory, job characteristics theory, and conservation of resources theory, we were able to explain how and under what conditions these concepts are related to organizational purpose. In doing so, our research contributes to advancing the knowledge and understanding of organizational purpose and its effects on human lives within and outside organizations. Our study thereby enhances the understanding of the role of organizations in society and helps in evaluating whether organizations take responsibility by living their purpose in the society they are part of. As such, our study provides important insights for theory development, scale development, and further empirical research on organizational purpose and its effects in different streams such as OB, HRM, marketing, leadership, and strategy.

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“…The idea of purpose has been around management for quite some time (Barnard 1938;Selznick 1957;Singleton 2014). About three decades ago, Bartlett and Ghoshal (1994, p. 80) called for a change in the role of top management "from setting strategy to defining purpose".…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate purpose: from a ‘Tower of Babel’ phenomenon towards construct clarity

Brosch

2023

J Bus Econ

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In recent years, interest in corporate purpose has gained momentum among both practitioners and academic researchers. Despite this, the construct of corporate purpose is still under-conceptualized and suffers from multiple – and partly divergent – understandings. Given that a field’s development is shaped by the clarity of its constructs, this paper strives to evolve the construct of corporate purpose from a ‘tower of babel’ phenomenon towards construct clarity. To this end, it reviews and synthesizes the literature on corporate purpose and proposes a definition that integrates different approaches. In addition, this paper underpins the definition with seven core characteristics of corporate purpose, delineates scope conditions and elaborates on the relationship of corporate purpose with related concepts including mission, vision, corporate social responsibility and sustainability. By enhancing construct clarity, the paper paves the avenue for further research on corporate purpose and the further development of the field.

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Understanding the Evolution of Theoretical Constructs in Organization Studies: Examining “Purpose”

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Collaboration as an Organization Design for Shared Purpose

Collaboration as an Organization Design for Shared Purpose

Exploring the Meaning of Organizational Purpose at a New Dawn: The Development of a Conceptual Model Through Expert Interviews

Corporate purpose: from a ‘Tower of Babel’ phenomenon towards construct clarity

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