Do Meaningful Missions Matter? Exploring Employee Engagement Across Financially-Focused and Socially-Focused Mission Statements

Abstract

This study explored how the orientation of a firm's mission statement correlates with the degree of employee engagement. More specifically, I aimed to discover if there was a relationship between a more social mission statement and higher employee engagement levels. Through studying employee engagement levels across student internships at Texas Christian University, I found that there was not a significant increase in engagement levels interns for more social mission statements. Other factors of employee engagement, such as person-organization fit, commitment, and gender, however, did have a significant influence on engagement levels for social missions. Women, individuals with high person-organization fit, and individuals with high commitment were highly engaged whether or not the mission was socially oriented. For men, individuals with low person-organization fit, and individuals with low commitment, however, a more social mission statement was actually associated with a significant drop in engagement levels.