Abstract
:This article investigates the extent to which vision, mission, and values (VM&V) statements play a role in corporate identity management by commercial and charitable organizations. Impression management (IM) theory was used to analyze how these statements could influence stakeholders’ impressions of an organization. A qualitative empirical study was conducted to explore VM&V statements on the websites of 100 commercial and 100 charitable organizations, using content analysis to identify IM activity in the statements. The findings have implications for academics and managers, as there were evidently gaps between theory and practice. Many of the commercial and charitable organizations underutilized VM&V statements as corporate identity cues, and there is subsequently potential for greater use of these statements as part of corporate identity management by organizations in both sectors. Managers should also ensure that the influence of the statements on stakeholders’ impressions of the organization aligns with the desired corporate image.
Highlights
This article investigates the extent to which vision, mission, and values (VM&V) statements play a role in corporate identity management by commercial and charitable organizations
In order to address these gaps in the literature, a qualitative exploratory study was conducted to investigate the extent to which VM&V statements play a role in corporate identity management by commercial and charitable organizations
This study used Impression management (IM) theory to investigate the extent to which VM&V statements play a role in corporate identity management by commercial and charitable organizations
Summary
This article investigates the extent to which vision, mission, and values (VM&V) statements play a role in corporate identity management by commercial and charitable organizations. The literature suggests that an organization’s VM&V are key aspects of corporate personality and a critical part of an organization’s communication activity (Otubanjo 2012, Otubanjo and Melewar 2007; Suvatjis and de Chernatony 2005), VM&V statements are generally underutilized by both commercial and charitable organizations. This indicates a gap between theory and practice, and a need for greater guidance on how organizations should use these statements as part of corporate identity management. Managers should ensure that the potential influence of VM&V statements on stakeholders’ impressions of the organization aligns with the desired corporate image
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