Corporate Purpose in Public and Private Firms.

Analyzing data from approximately 1.5 million employees across 1,108 established public and private U.S. companies, we find that the strength of employee beliefs related to purpose is weaker in public companies. Among public companies, those beliefs are stronger for firms with more committed owners. These patterns are most pronounced within the salaried middle and hourly ranks rather than senior executives. Differences across firms can be attributed, in part, to differences in leadership and incentive characteristics. Our findings are consistent with higher owner commitment and the corresponding policies that arise alongside this higher commitment, enabling a stronger sense of purpose inside organizations. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, organizations. Funding: C. Gartenberg recognizes financial support from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. G. Serafeim recognizes financial support from the Division of Research and Faculty Development of the Harvard Business School. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4618. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]