Abstract:

Mission-Driven Organizations (MDOs) seek to address societal challenges by embedding a social purpose into everyday work, yet this ambition is unevenly experienced across organizational collectives. In France, the Société à Mission (SAM) legal framework extends MDO practices through dedicated governance mechanisms, such as mission committees and statutory audits, designed to operationalize the mission throughout the organization. This study examines whether these mechanisms foster organizational commitment within work collectives, drawing on Allen and Meyer’s (1990, 1991, 1997) multidimensional model of organizational commitment. It adopts a qualitative single-case study of a SAM based on primary and secondary data, including semi-structured interviews and observations. Data were analyzed using an iterative thematic coding approach in NVivo to explore how collective mission appropriation and formal governance devices shape commitment. Preliminary findings reveal heterogeneous commitment dynamics, with mechanisms supporting mobilization while also generating tensions or feelings of alienation depending on their enactment.

Please choose your submission type: Developmental Paper

Primary Track: Organisational Studies

Keywords: Creating and maintaining innovative approaches: dealing with significant social and economic issues, patterns of working, the role of business, creating sustainable organisations, responsible management;Boundaries of organisation and management: balancing and managing relationships between growth, sustainability and socio-economic implications within volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments;Organisational research and practice: interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing the relationships that exist within and across sectors

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Mrs. Anne-Lise Olive

Biography