Sixteenth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

This paper explores the future of the disruptive notion of corporate purpose, shifting the firm’s main reason of being from profit to a broader societal focus. Using the framework introduced by George et al. (2023), the study scrutinizes three areas of purpose-driven practices: framing, formalizing, and realizing. Through a future temporal lens, the research investigates how corporate purpose may be integrated by companies across all three areas. Moreover, it examines the concern of decoupling, and analyses, from a neo-institutional perspective, how institutions influence purpose-driven practices. Employing a forward-looking Delphi approach with contributions from 96 international experts, the study assesses nine future scenarios featuring practices across the areas of corporate purpose in the year 2035. Results show that scenarios in the area of framing are the most likely to occur. Yet, purpose-driven practices in the area of realizing exhibit the highest expected impact. Best practices emerge as the most influential institutional force across all scenarios. However, uncertainties arise regarding the future role of regulation, creating the most disagreement among experts. This study expands the literature by examining how corporate purpose may evolve and unfold its disruptive potential in the future. Thus, addressing a gap in the current management literature, which has primarily focused on defining the purpose concept.