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Moral Imagination, the Collective Desirable, and Strategic Purpose

Author

Listed:
  • Violina P. Rindova

    (Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089)

  • Luis L. Martins

    (McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712)

Abstract

In contrast to the prevalent outside-in perspectives on corporate purpose as a response to competing normative demands of stakeholders, we introduce an inside-out perspective on purpose as based in firm-specific, agentic commitments to specific values, ideals, and societal goals. Drawing on moral philosophy, we propose how strategists can develop a strategic purpose through moral imagination that involves developing shaping intentions based in values and ideals, empathetic relating, and imaginativeness in stakeholder contexts. These processes support the generation of an emergent theory of value, which we term “the collective desirable.” This theory of value—a creative synthesis of the shaping intentions of the firm, and the interests and perspectives of stakeholders—provides the foundation of purpose, which is strategic, dynamic, and generative for the firm and its stakeholders. Such a strategic purpose becomes an organizational logic of action enacted through designated processes for articulation, maintenance, and evolvability, and through blueprints for credible commitments and resource allocations. By theorizing the microfoundations of an agentic, inside-out view of purpose, our theoretical framework articulates a set of mechanisms through which strategists can develop a strategic purpose that is tightly linked to the firm’s future-oriented strategy and the exercise of moral leadership. Our conception of moral imagination as a form of prosocial prospective cognition contributes a novel perspective to the socio-cognitive and subjectivist perspectives on strategy and extends the microfoundations of strategy.

Suggested Citation

  • Violina P. Rindova & Luis L. Martins, 2023. "Moral Imagination, the Collective Desirable, and Strategic Purpose," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 170-181, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orstsc:v:8:y:2023:i:2:p:170-181
    DOI: 10.1287/stsc.2023.0190
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sarah Kaplan, 2023. "The Promises and Perils of Corporate Purpose," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 288-301, June.
    2. Violina P. Rindova & Luis L. Martins, 2024. "The Imagination Advantage: Why and How Strategists Combine Knowledge and Imagination in Developing Theories," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(4), pages 499-514, December.
    3. Martin Kornberger & Stephan Leixnering, 2025. "Moral Learning in Organizations: An Integrative Framework for Organizational Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 201(2), pages 253-264, October.
    4. Jacob Valentine & Elena Novelli & Rajshree Agarwal, 2024. "The Theory-Based View and Strategic Pivots: The Effects of Theorization and Experimentation on the Type and Nature of Pivots," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(4), pages 433-460, December.
    5. Witold J. Henisz, 2023. "The Value of Organizational Purpose," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 159-169, June.
    6. James D. Westphal, 2023. "Systemic Symbolic Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Corporate Purpose: A Cautionary Tale," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 8(2), pages 221-232, June.
    7. Yanina Kowszyk & Rajiv Maher & Frank Vanclay & Mariana Walter, 2026. "Moral management in the extractive industries during turbulent times: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, December.

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