Abstract
Aligning human and financial resources to a compelling purpose can produce benefits for organizations and society. Thus, increased attention in the popular business press has focused on becoming a “purpose-driven” organization. Yet surprisingly, there is a notable absence of academic research on organizational purpose. We begin to address this gap by presenting the results of three studies focusing specifically on micro employee-level perceptions of organizational purpose. The first study improves upon previously unvalidated approaches to employee-level measurement of purpose. The second study demonstrates how corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts influence purpose, making organizations more attractive to prospective employees. In the third study, we test a moderated mediation model with existing employees, emphasizing controllable ways organizations can instill purpose and demonstrating meaningful influences on individual outcomes. Using cross-sectional, experimental, and longitudinal methodologies, we establish organizational purpose as a central mediating construct through which antecedent forces like CSR and transformational leadership translate into positive employee outcomes, including organizational attractiveness, commitment, and decreased turnover intentions. We make several contributions to the organizational behavior and leadership literatures, advancing an emergent empirical focus on the power of purpose in organizations.
Published Version
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