What do we know about Organizational Values? – A Systematic Review

Abstract

This technical report consolidates the state of academic research on organizational values through a systematic review of literature published over the past 51 years. The search strategy identified 361 peer-reviewed journal articles, of which 111 were thoroughly examined as highly relevant to the researched topic. The studies were sorted into three themes: (1) studies which define and clarify the concept of organizational values; (2) studies which discuss the structure of organizational values and define or use formal classifications of organizational values (incl. categories and taxonomies); and (3) studies which investigate the benefits and limitations of organizational values in terms of their relation to different organizational constructs as organizational commitment, job satisfaction, etc. Using the data obtained by the review process a comprehensive conceptual consolidation of the existing literature was proposed consisting of (1) a multidimensional definition of organizational values; (2) a classification of organizational values based on the Stakeholder theory; and (3) a map of relations between organizational values and various organizational constructs that can be used to assess the benefits and limitations of organizational values. Implications for research and practice are also presented.