IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/sol/wpaper/2013-307519.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Anchors Aweigh? Then Time to Head Upstream Why we Need to Theorize “Mission” before “Drift”

Author

Listed:
  • Cecilia Varendh-Mansson
  • Tyler Wry
  • Ariane Szafarz

Abstract

Going beyond a narrow focus on social enterprise, Grimes, Williams, and Zhao (2019) advance a model of mission drift that they argue is relevant to understanding why—and with what consequences—all types of organizations might act in ways that are inconsistent with their identity and image. We applaud this effort, and agree that it is important to develop a theoretically rigorous approach to mission drift.Yet while the treatment that Grimes et al. (2019) develop is likely relevant to some organizations, their argument is built on a shakyfoundation, where “mission” is conceptualized in simplistic terms as an organization’s single, orienting purpose. In turn, this leads theauthors to make a number of problematic inferences about “drift” as a general phenomenon. This dialog details our concerns, and suggests thatit is vital to go upstream, and theorize mission as a nuanced and variegated construct if we are going to generate meaningful insightabout the nature, causes, and consequences of drift.

Suggested Citation

  • Cecilia Varendh-Mansson & Tyler Wry & Ariane Szafarz, 2020. "Anchors Aweigh? Then Time to Head Upstream Why we Need to Theorize “Mission” before “Drift”," Working Papers CEB PostPrintCEB024, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    • Handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/307519
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://dipot.ulb.ac.be/dspace/bitstream/2013/307519/3/CEBPostPrint024.pdf
    File Function: Full text for the whole work, or for a work part
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wry, Tyler & Haugh, Helen, 2018. "Brace for impact: Uniting our diverse voices through a social impact frame," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 566-574.
    2. Derek J. Harmon & Peter H. Kim & Kyle J. Mayer, 2015. "Breaking the letter vs. spirit of the law: How the interpretation of contract violations affects trust and the management of relationships," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(4), pages 497-517, April.
    3. Mary Ann Glynn, 2000. "When Cymbals Become Symbols: Conflict Over Organizational Identity Within a Symphony Orchestra," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(3), pages 285-298, June.
    4. Mersland, Roy & Nyarko, Samuel Anokye & Szafarz, Ariane, 2019. "Do social enterprises walk the talk? Assessing microfinance performances with mission statements," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Brière, Marie & Szafarz, Ariane, 2015. "Does Commercial Microfinance Belong to the Financial Sector? Lessons from the Stock Market," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 110-125.
    6. Greta Hsu & Michael T. Hannan, 2005. "Identities, Genres, and Organizational Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(5), pages 474-490, October.
    7. Jay B. Barney, 2018. "Why resource‐based theory's model of profit appropriation must incorporate a stakeholder perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(13), pages 3305-3325, December.
    8. J.-P. Vergne & Tyler Wry, 2014. "Categorizing Categorization Research: Review, Integration, and Future Directions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 56-94, January.
    9. Hudon, Marek & Sandberg, Joakim, 2013. "The Ethical Crisis in Microfinance: Issues, Findings, and Implications," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 561-589, October.
    10. Bert D'Espallier & Marek Hudon & Ariane Szafarz, 2016. "Aid Volatility and Social Performance in Microfinance," Working Papers CEB 16-015, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Mersland, Roy & Nyarko, Samuel Anokye & Szafarz, Ariane, 2019. "Do social enterprises walk the talk? Assessing microfinance performances with mission statements," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Tyler Wry & Eric Yanfei Zhao, 2018. "Taking Trade-offs Seriously: Examining the Contextually Contingent Relationship Between Social Outreach Intensity and Financial Sustainability in Global Microfinance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 507-528, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dean A. Shepherd & Trenton A. Williams, 2023. "Does It Need to be Broader or Deeper? Trade-Offs in Entrepreneurship Theorizing," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(4), pages 1003-1030, July.
    2. Cozarenco, Anastasia & Szafarz, Ariane, 2020. "The regulation of prosocial lending: Are loan ceilings effective?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    3. Anaïs Périlleux & Ariane Szafarz, 2022. "Women in the boardroom: a bottom–up approach to the trickle-down effect," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1783-1800, April.
    4. Zineb Aouni & Marek Hudon & Anaïs A Périlleux & Tyler Wry, 2024. "Crowdfunding social ventures: who rewards (or punishes) hybridity?," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/367191, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Md Aslam Mia & Hasanul Banna & Abu Hanifa Md Noman & Md Rabiul Alam & Md. Sohel Rana, 2022. "Factors affecting borrowers’ turnover in microfinance institutions: A panel evidence," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(1), pages 55-84, March.
    6. Lucas, David S. & Park, U. David, 2023. "The nature and origins of social venture mission: An exploratory study of political ideology and moral foundations," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    7. Simon Cornée & Marc Jegers & Ariane Szafarz & Simon Cornée & Marc Jegers & Ariane Szafarz, 2022. "Feasible Institutions of Social Finance: A Taxonomy," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 178(3), pages 280-310.
    8. Klein, Sascha & Schneider, Sabrina & Spieth, Patrick, 2021. "How to stay on the road? A business model perspective on mission drift in social purpose organizations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 658-671.
    9. Enrico Bellazzecca & Olga Biosca, 2022. "Intended and unintended effects of specialized regulation on microfinance institutions’ double‐bottom line management," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(4), pages 977-999, December.
    10. Huimin Li & Jianyuan Huang & Jiayun Liu, 2022. "External Support for Elderly Care Social Enterprises in China: A Government-Society-Family Framework of Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-22, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nyarko, Samuel Anokye, 2022. "Gender discrimination and lending to women: The moderating effect of an international founder," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(4).
    2. Zineb Aouni & Marek Hudon & Anaïs A Périlleux & Tyler Wry, 2024. "Crowdfunding social ventures: who rewards (or punishes) hybridity?," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/367191, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Zineb Aouni & Marek Hudon & Anaïs A Périlleux & Tyler Wry, 2024. "Crowdfunding social ventures: Who will reward (or punish) hybridity?," Working Papers CEB 24-004, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    4. Leif Atle Beisland & Kwame Ohene Djan & Roy Mersland & Trond Randøy, 2021. "Measuring Social Performance in Social Enterprises: A Global Study of Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 51-71, June.
    5. Marek Hudon & Marc Labie & Patrick Reichert, 2020. "What is a Fair Level of Profit for Social Enterprise? Insights from Microfinance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 627-644, March.
    6. Marek Hudon & Marc Labie & Ariane Szafarz, 2019. "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… How microfinance evolved and how research followed," Working Papers CEB 19-013, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Christophe Boone & Serden Özcan, 2020. "Oppositional Logics and the Antecedents of Hybridization: A Country-Level Study of the Diffusion of Islamic Banking Windows, 1975–2017," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 990-1011, July.
    8. Sajeda Pervin & Mohammad Nazari Ismail & Abu Hanifa Md Noman, 2023. "Does Microfinance Singlehandedly Empower Women? A Case Study of Bangladesh," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    9. Lin, Yi-Hsin & Lin, Feng-Jyh & Wang, Kuo-Hsiung, 2021. "The effect of social mission on service quality and brand image," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 744-752.
    10. Cozarenco, Anastasia & Szafarz, Ariane, 2020. "The regulation of prosocial lending: Are loan ceilings effective?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    11. Moez Bennouri & Anastasia Cozarenco & Samuel Anokye Nyarko, 2024. "Women on Boards and Performance Trade-offs in Social Enterprises: Insights from Microfinance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(1), pages 165-198, February.
    12. Silvia Dorado & Ying Chen & Andrea M. Prado & Virginia Simon, 2022. "Attuned HRM Systems for Social Enterprises," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 829-848, July.
    13. Leonhard Dobusch & Dennis Schoeneborn, 2015. "Fluidity, Identity, and Organizationality: The Communicative Constitution of Anonymous," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(8), pages 1005-1035, December.
    14. Julian D. Cortes & Diego Tellez & Jesus Godoy, 2021. "Mission Statement Effect on Research and Innovation Performance," Papers 2104.07476, arXiv.org.
    15. Krzeminska, Anna & Lundmark, Erik & Härtel, Charmine E.J., 2021. "Legitimation of a heterogeneous market category through covert prototype differentiation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(2).
    16. Michael Lounsbury & Christine M. Beckman, 2015. "Celebrating Organization Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(2), pages 288-308, March.
    17. Simon Cornée & Anastasia Cozarenco & Ariane Szafarz, 2023. "The Changing Role of Banks in the Financial System: Social Versus Conventional Banks," Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions, in: Chrysovalantis Gaganis & Fotios Pasiouras & Menelaos Tasiou & Constantin Zopounidis (ed.), Sustainable Finance and ESG, pages 1-25, Palgrave Macmillan.
    18. Jay Mitra & Mariusz Sokolowicz & Ursula Weisenfeld & Agnieszka Kurczewska & Silke Tegtmeier, 2020. "Citizen Entrepreneurship: A Conceptual Picture of the Inclusion, Integration and Engagement of Citizens in the Entrepreneurial Process," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 6(2), pages 242-260, July.
    19. Dmitry A. Ruban & Natalia N. Yashalova & Vladimir A. Ermolaev, 2021. "Is Environment a Strategic Priority of the Leading Energy Companies? Evidence from Mission Statements," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    20. Simon Cornée & Anastasia Cozarenco & Ariane Szafarz, 2023. "The Changing Role of Banks in the Financial System: Social Versus Conventional Banks," Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions, in: Chrysovalantis Gaganis & Fotios Pasiouras & Menelaos Tasiou & Constantin Zopounidis (ed.), Sustainable Finance and ESG, pages 1-25, Palgrave Macmillan.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mission Drift; Multiple Missions; Firm’s Identity; Organization Theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M14 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Corporate Culture; Diversity; Social Responsibility
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • L21 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Business Objectives of the Firm
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/307519. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Benoit Pauwels (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cebulbe.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.