Abstract
This study reviews 88 articles from 39 journals (1982-2021) on mission statements and synthesises and integrates the mission statement literature into a multi-level framework. The review compares articles before 2000 and after 2000 by clarifying the (1) components, (2) drivers, and (3) outcomes of mission statements, and organises the findings to provide a new perspective that enables the research field to break new ground. The review indicates that (1) the mission statement is used broadly and its impacts are on multiple levels; (2) the research of mission statements focuses more on CSR recently; (3) the adoption of the mission statement is changing gradually to present what stakeholders want to receive (especially CSR dimension) rather than what the firm does. Although there is a lack of data evidence, the findings are suggested to be investigated further. The direction of future research is discussed at the end of this paper.