Effects of Commitment to Corporate Vision on Employee Satisfaction with Their Organization: An Empirical Study in the United States

Abstract

Organizational commitment to corporate vision and employee satisfaction were examined using two successive surveys of approximately 900 employees of a robotics high-tech organization. Following development of a corporate vision statement and communication to employees, a survey was administered to explore employee perceived organizational commitment to the vision and employee organization satisfaction. Subjects' responses to corporate vision items were factor analyzed and yielded three factors: (1) employee commitment (2) departmental management commitment and (3) vision outcomes. Hypotheses were tested and the research supports the relationship between employee survey responses to corporate vision, department management commitment to vision and employee organization satisfaction. The highest correlations to organization satisfaction pertained to the vision outcomes factor (four significant items). A follow-up survey was conducted within twelve months and data analyses showed consistent correlations over time. Introduction It has been argued that mission and vision statements play a vital direction-establishing role in organizations (Sidhu, 2003). In addition, it has been proposed that vision statements provide unanimity of purpose within the organization and serve as a focal point for employee direction (King and Cleland, 1979). Some organizations develop both mission and vision statements and the use of the terms: mission and vision often overlap (David, 2009). A review of the literature indicates mixed results with respect to the impact of mission and vision statements on organizational performance (Bart, 1 996; Baetz and Bart, 1996; Campbell, 1993; Klemm, Sanderson and Luffman, 1991). The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship between employee perceptions of organizational commitment to vision and employee organization satisfaction. An understanding of this relationship may provide insight into the importance of vision statement design, implementation and resultant impact on employees. Literature Review and Hypotheses Corporate Mission and Corporate Vision Statements There appear to be many purposes of mission and vision statements (Bart, 1997; Ireland and Hitt, 1992; Klemm et al., 1991; McGinnis, 1981). These include providing a sense of purpose, promoting shared values, establishing behavioral standards, and maintaining employee focus on organizational strategy and direction (Bart, 1997). While there have been mixed results regarding the clarity, content, relevance and importance of mission and vision statements, a majority of organizations continue to develop, communicate to stakeholders, redefine and utilize vision statements (Bart, 1 997). It has been proposed that organizations spend a great deal of time and effort in drafting and re-drafting statements of vision and purpose, but too little time aligning vision with organizational values (Collins, 2006) and the usefulness of vision statements has been questioned (Raynor, 1998). A number of variables may be related to the usefulness of vision statements as part of high-performance work cultures. Among these variables are employee involvement, open communication, demonstration of commitment to the culture through daily work life activities, behavioral modeling and reinforcement of behaviors (Juechter, Fisher, and Alford, 1998) (Poole, Stevenson and George, 1996). Research indicates there has been limited employee involvement in the development of vision statements and limited behavioral modeling (Bart, 1997). A study conducted by Sosik and Dinger (2007) examined the relationship between the personal attributes of organizational leaders, leadership style and corporate vision content. The relationship between vision, organizational culture, employee perceptions and quality service has been recognized in the literature (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985). Harber, Ashkanasy and Callan (1997) proposed that cultural change processes affect employee outco