Mission Statement Effect on Research and Innovation Performance

TL;DR

This study investigates how mission statements influence organizational research and innovation performance, revealing that organizations without MS perform better and that macroeconomic factors and state investment are key influences.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis linking MS, macroeconomic environment, and innovation using SEM, SCImago rankings, and economic complexity, highlighting the limited impact of MS on performance.

Findings

Organizations without MS outperform those with MS.

State investment and macroeconomic environment better explain RandI performance.

MS has a small but positive relationship with financial performance.

Abstract

The mission statement (MS) is the most used organizational strategic planning tool worldwide. The relationship between an MS and an organizations financial performance has been shown to be significantly positive, albeit small. However, an MSs relationship to the macroeconomic environment and to organizational innovation has not been investigated. We implemented a Structural Equation Modeling using the SCImago Institutional Ranking (SIR) as a global baseline sample and assessment of organizational research and innovation (RandI), an automated MS content analysis, and the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) as a comprehensive macroeconomic environment measure. We found that the median performance of organizations that do not report an MS is significantly higher than that of reporting organizations, and that a path-dependence driven by the State's long-term view and investment is a better explanatory variable for organizational RandI performance than the MS construct or the intermediate-term macroeconomic environment.