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Sub-theme 33: Organizational Purpose at the Crossroads - [Hybrid]

Convenors:
Anna Jasinenko
University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
Rodolphe Durand
HEC Paris, France
Renate E. Meyer
WU Vienna; Copenhagen Business School, Austria & Denmark

Call for Papers

Call for short papers (pdf)

Organizational purpose, broadly defined as organizations’ reason for existence beyond profit maximization, has gained remarkable traction in both management research and corporate practice (Chua et al., 2024; Durand & Huynh, 2024; Jasinenko & Steuber, 2023; Leixnering et al., 2022). This surge of interest is reflected in the increasing number of organizations that articulate and implement higher purposes. A prominent example is the 2019 Business Roundtable Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation, in which 181 CEOs of major U.S. companies committed to serving a broader set of stakeholders and advancing societal well-being. Similar statements by the World Economic Forum’s Davos World Economic Forum (2019) and Blackrock’s Larry Fink (2018) further strengthen the role of organizational purpose as an essential and prevailing management construct.

Academically, the notion of purpose has deep intellectual roots with early support by prominent management thinkers, such as Barnard (1938), Drucker (1973), and Selznick (1957). However, research interest in organizational purpose has resurged, exemplified by rising numbers of academic publications, editorials (Durand & Huynh, 2024; Hollensbe et al., 2014), and special issues (e.g., Ocasio et al., 2023; Volberda et al., 2025). Contemporary research examines both institutional-level debates concerning the roles and responsibilities of corporations in society (Meyer et al., 2022; Ocasio et al., 2023) and organization-level inquiries into the antecedents, processes, and consequences of purpose (Durand, 2023; Jasinenko & Steuber, 2023). At its core, research on organizational purpose raises fundamental questions about the “rules of the game” that guide organizational action. By redefining what organizations deem legitimate, valuable, or responsible, purpose initiatives can challenge conventional economic assumptions and reshape organizational norms. As such, purpose contributes to the re-writing of organizational, market, and institutional rules, directly resonating with this year’s Colloquium theme “The Games We Play: Re-Writing the Rules of Organization?”

This sub-theme aims to build on this organizational purpose research and contribute to its rigorous development. We invite scholars to address organizational purpose from diverse theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches. We invite conceptual, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method contributions that approach organizational purpose through diverse theoretical lenses and disciplinary traditions, including management, strategy, organization theory, psychology, sociology, and political economy.

We welcome submissions that engage with (but are not limited to) the following themes:

  • Varieties and traditions of purpose: How do different economic, cultural, or political traditions shape the understanding of ideal types of purpose and their support? Can purpose extend beyond human-centered aims toward “trans-human” or ecological orientations?

  • The architecture of purpose: What theoretical scaffolding supports the conceptualization of how purpose is constructed, legitimized, and enacted within organizations?

  • Purpose infrastructures: What organizational systems, governance mechanisms, measurement tools, or strategic blueprints enable (or hinder) the institutionalization and durability of purpose?

  • Purpose practices: Which concrete activities and practices do organizations engage in to define, enact, change, and otherwise shape their purpose?

  • Purpose as imposition or empowerment: Under what conditions do purpose initiatives empower versus constrain employees, stakeholders, or managerial discretion? What are the power dynamics related to purpose? What are the ethical implications of imposing purpose?

  • Purpose and employees: Under what conditions do purpose initiatives empower versus constrain employees? What is the role of the fit between the organizational purpose and an individual employee’s purpose?

  • Purpose and ideology: How should organizations deal with ideological shifts in their workforce or political system? How to think about and compare nationalistic or amoral purposes relative to prosocial ones?

  • Purpose and impact: Under what conditions does organizational purpose translate into societal impact?


References



Anna Jasinenko is Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. In her research, Anna applies a social evaluation lens to conceptualize, measure, and manage organizational approaches to contribute to the common good. Thereby, she examines the micro-foundations of responsible and sustainable business practices, such as organizational purpose, public value, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Her work was published in peer-reviewed academic journals, such as the 'Journal of Management' or the 'Journal of Management Studies'.
Rodolphe Durand is the Joly Family Chaired Professor in Purposeful Leadership and the Director of HEC Paris Purpose Center. As a scholar, Rudy’s primary research interests concern the normative and cognitive dimensions of firms' performance, and especially the consequences for firms of defining their purpose and coping with the current major environmental and social challenges. As a member of Boards (in listed and private firms, in non-profit organizations), impact committee, and purpose committee (comité de mission), Rudy works with multiple organizations on developing, implementing, and assessing impact strategies that value a firm’s purpose and its intangible assets.
Renate E. Meyer is Professor of Organization Studies at WU Vienna and part-time Professor at CBS. She holds visiting positions at Saïd Business School (Oxford University), the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and University of Alberta Business School. Her research interests include phenomenological institutional theory, framing and translation processes, changing organizational forms, and organizational governance and governance arrangements in multisector settings. She has received numerous awards and is EGOS Honorary Member (2024) and OMT Distinguished Scholar (2025).