What are the implications of an organization's statement of its desirable future? Organizational vision is often communicated by CEO and top executives to deliver an important message to both internal and external stakeholders—that is, what the organization aims to become in the future. Although management scholars acknowledge the positive influence of a vision on organizations, including motivating employees, facilitating innovations, and improving organizational performance, there is limited consensus regarding the benefits of organizational vision for organizational outcomes. In particular, it remains unclear whether vision matters, and if so, when it matters more or less. A meta-analysis on organizational vision can contribute value to the fields of management, spanning strategic management, leadership, and entrepreneurship studies, by synthesizing theories and statistically aggregating empirical findings to test the relationship between vision and four key organizational outcomes: employee attitudes, employee behavior, innovation, and corporate financial performance. We also examine two significant contingencies in the importance of organizational vision—types of vision and organizational size. Our findings, based on 60 empirical studies and 245 relevant effect sizes, provide a critical foundation for future research to further advance this field and explore more complex mechanisms behind these relationships.
