Journal of Business Ethics (2011) 101:111-126

DOI 10.1007/s10551-010-0712-x

Springer 2010

Mission-Driven Organizations in Japan:

Management Philosophy and Individual
Outcomes

Yingyan Wang

congruence with what they claim in their

mission
statements (Bartkus and Glassman, 2008). In
Japan, it
ABSTRACT. Previous studies imply that management
philosophy has become an essential ethical foundation
for
a number of mission-driven organizations in Japan. This
study examines how management philosophy might be
influential to individuals with a sample of 1019 Japanese
employees. The article develops a framework for analyzing the adoption of management philosophy and
individual attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Factor
analysis shows that adoption of the management philosophy can be categorized into two dimensions, identification with management philosophy, and sensemaking of
that management philosophy. Regression results indicate
that while philosophy-oriented practice might affect
individual adoption of management philosophy, the
adoption of the management philosophy is positively
related to both job involvement and organizational citizenship behavior. Furthermore, the results of structural
equation analysis indicate that both dimensions of the
adoption of the management philosophy might mediate
the relationship between organizational practice and
individual outcomes. The research not only increases our
understandings into the effectiveness of the management
philosophy as an essential ethical foundation, but also
provides intriguing implication regarding the organizational measures required to enhance the mission-driven
culture.
KEY WORDS: management philosophy, mission-driven
organization, identification, sensemaking, individual outcomes, job involvement, organizational citizenship behavior

Introduction
While many companies have publicized their mission statements, firms do not necessarily behave in

porated in corporate management philosophy

(Wang, 2009). Such ethical thoughts in management
philosophy have become critical in judging what is
the right or wrong thing to do in the business for
Japanese companies (Tanaka, 2006).
has been regarded that an important feature differPrevious studies have suggested that the mission
entiating the mission-driven organizations and those
which publicize the mission statements without and philosophy could benefit the organizations in
following them, is the formation of an authentic terms of various performance outcomes (Bart and
management philosophy (Wang, 2009). Manage- Baetz, 1998; Davis et al., 2007; Palmer and Short,
ment philosophy refers to the central, distinctive and 2008; Pearce and David, 1987). However, most
enduring concepts, beliefs, principles, and attitudes previous studies are limited to investigating the
guiding business management, which are critical in
the pursuit of a mission (Analoui and Karami, 2002). content of the mission statements and how the
It might be stated that in many Japanese companies,
management philosophy has become an essential philosophy involved in the mission statements could
ethical foundation for mission-driven organizations
(Tanaka, 2006; Wang, 2009). For example, the study be functional at a macro level (e.g., Analoui and
with a sample of 152 electrical machinery companies Karami, 2002; Davis et al., 2007; Kaptein, 2004;
in Japan shows that the emphasis of ethics, sustainability, Palmer and Short, 2008; Wang, 2009). An important
gaining trust, harmony, honesty, contribution to society, issue arises regarding how individuals within an
and environmental protect are among the most frequently adopted corporate value orientations incor- organization could be influenced by the mission and

112
philosophy. A philosophy that is both
articulated
and
enacted may facilitate a transformation of
commitment into productive effort because it
could
provide direction for individuals, set
constraints
on
employee behavior, and enhance individual
motivation through the presentation of a clear
picture
of
the organizational goals, norms, and values
(Hatvany
and Pucik, 1981; Scott, 1966).
For
example,
an
emphasis of ethics in management
philosophy
might
change the thoughts of individual from
pursuing
pure profits to showing more concerns on
business
ethical issues and possibly becoming to be a
highly
socially motivated person. Such a prosocial
motivation might also change the way of
individual
involvement with job, other persons, and
the
organization. A comprehensive framework
indicating
the mechanism of how individuals gain the
essence
of management philosophy, and how
individual
adoption of management philosophy
might
be
related to outcomes is necessary to
facilitate
our
understanding into the effectiveness of
management
philosophy.
Consequently, this article attempts to
explore
and deepen the understanding of the
effectiveness
of
the management philosophy as an essential
ethical
foundation from an individual-level
perspective.
First, the study would help us to

Yingyan Wang
expand
the
understanding on the psychological
construct
of
the individual attitude toward the
management
philosophy by examining how employees
adopt
the
management philosophy from cognitive
and
attitudinal perspectives. Also, the article aims
to
examine
what facilitates individual adoption of
the
management philosophy from the viewpoint of
organizational practices. In addition, the third
important
goal
of the article is to examine whether the
adoption
of management philosophy could help
individuals
improve their attitudinal and behavioral
outcomes,
including
job
involvement
and
organizational
citizenship behaviors. Finally, the article
proposes
and
validates an integrated framework for
examining
the
relationships
between
organizational
practice,
individual adoption of management
philosophy,
and
individual outcomes, attempting to
answer
the
question as to how philosophyoriented
practice
might function to affect individual
cognition
and
attitudes, which in turn affects
individual
job
involvement
and
organizational
citizenship behavior.

In particular, after presenting and defining

the
individual
adoption
of
management
philosophy,
philosophy-oriented organizational practice
and
individual outcomes of job involvement and
organizational citizenship behavior, the article
develops
hypotheses regarding the relationships between
different variables and an integrated framework
for
analyzing the adoption of management
philosophy
and individual attitudinal and behavioral
outcomes.
A sample of 1019 employees surveyed from a
Japanbased general trading corporation with a good
social
reputation is applied to demonstrate the
hypotheses
and
further confirm the framework. All the
participants
are
randomly selected from the corporation and
asked
to
complete a survey questionnaire designed
by
the
researchers for the purpose of the study.
Methodologically, factor analysis is used to clarify and
examine
the dimensions of individual adoption of
management
philosophy proposed in this study. Also,
multiple
regression analyses are applied to confirm the
hypotheses regarding the relationships between
different
variables. Furthermore, structural equation
analysis
is
used
to
demonstrate the
integrated

framework
involving organizational practice, individual
adoption
of management philosophy, and individual
outcomes.
Defining
individual
adoption
of
management
philosophy
In this study, individual adoption of the
management
philosophy is categorized into two
dimensions:
the
identification
with
the
management
philosophy,
and
sensemaking
of
the
management
philosophy.
The
identification with management philosophy
refers
to
the emotional acceptance and cognitive
willingness
to
incorporate the management philosophy
into
ones
own
self-concept.
Unlike
general
organizational
rules
and procedures, management philosophy is not
always
straightforward in that it requires substantial
individual
efforts to make sense of, and figure out, the
meaning
of
the management philosophy and how or
what
one
should do to fulfill the philosophy. Therefore,
the
other
important dimension is the sensemaking of
the
management philosophy, which is indicative of
ones
cognitive activities in interpreting the
management
philosophy, and of the capability to explain
the
management philosophy in ones own words.

Mission-Driven Organizations in Japan

113
Identification with management philosophy
Members become emotionally attached
to
their
organizations when they incorporate the
characteristics they attribute to their organization
into
their
self-concepts (Dutton et al., 1994).
Organizational
identification has been conceptualized as a
cognitive
link between the definitions of the
organization
and
the self (Ashforth et al., 2008), and the
individuals
identity and fate become intertwined with
those
of
the organization (Ashforth and Mael,
1989).
The
identification with management philosophy
refers
to
the acceptance and emotional attachment
to
the
management philosophy when someone
builds
an
emotional and cognitive link between the
management philosophy and individuals selfconcept.
However, unlike the organizational
identification,
which emphasizes the salience of ones
membership
and the consistency in the relationship
between
selfconcept and the organization as a social
group
(Dutton et al., 1994), identification with the
management philosophy is conceptually deeper
to
the
extent that individuals are identified with the
central
and enduring principles, values, and goals
which
guide the business management, i.e., the
management philosophy. In a mission-driven
organization,

individuals, highly motivated by the

mission,
are
identified
with
the
management
philosophy
which
is
designed to carry out the mission. For
example,
identification with the management
philosophy
of
customer orientation indicates that
someone
is
willing to serve the best interests of the
customers,
not only as an employee hired by some
company
but
also a pro-social individual with a
central
and
enduring attribute of serving the best
interests
of
his
clients, as indicated by the research that
managers
of
companies
with
customer-oriented
missions
are
more likely to engage in customeroriented
activities
(Germain and Cooper, 1990).
The reason why individuals might be
identified
with management philosophy could be
examined
in
terms of social identity theory (Tajfel,
1978,
1982)
and self-categorization theory (Turner et
al.,
1987).
The management philosophy of the
mission-driven
organization might function as an
important
social
category for understanding the personal
attributes
and
identity-construction process. Ran and
Duimering
(2007) suggest that if an organization
defines
itself
as
innovative, then the label also implicitly
relegates the

organization as a member of the social

category of innovative organization. Thus, in
such a case, the management philosophy of
innovation might be interpreted as a social
category
which
helps
an
individual define his own attributes.
Sensemaking of management philosophy
Sensemaking has been defined as a process in
which
individuals develop cognitive maps of their
environment (Ring and Rands, 1989). People are
constantly
in the business of trying to make sense of the
flow
of
activities in which they find themselves
(OConnell,
1998). Sensemaking has been argued to be the
link
between cognition and action (Thomas et al.,
1993).
The processes of sensemaking within an
organization
lead the organization to view differently its
relationships with stakeholders, which, in turn,
influence
how the organization engages with the
surrounding
stakeholders (Brickson, 2007). Management
philosophy is among the important attributes,
motives,
or
characteristics of the organization, which
might
be
accepted by the individual and become
incorporated
into the cognitive response set of the
individual
(Kagan, 1958).
Sensemaking
of
the
management

philosophy, which might be defined as the

process
through
which
individuals
develop
cognitive
maps
of the management philosophy, consists of
a
set
of
ideas with explanatory possibilities which
involve
the central, distinctive, and enduring
concepts,
principles, and attitudes guiding the
business
management.
Sensemaking occurs in organizations
when
members confront events, issues, and actions
that
are
somehow confusing (Maitlis, 2005; Weick,
1995).
Humans are meaning seekers and the
process
of
identifying with collectives and roles helps
reduce
the uncertainty associated with interacting
change
in
the organizational settings (Weick, 1995).
The
sensemaking
process
facilitates
organizational
members focusing on salient cues, and
developing
perceptions of how their organization
works
(Whitbred, 2009). Also, there are many
channels
through which concepts and ideas can
reach
a
sense-maker, both spoken and written,
and
both
formal and informal (Balogun and Johnson,
2004).
Sensemaking of management philosophy
involves
individual effort in making retrospective
sense of the

114
meaning of management philosophy, how to
put
the
management philosophy into practice to
achieve
the
company mission. The sensemaking of
management
philosophy is especially critical in a
mission-driven
organization because abstract philosophy
and
principles do not always tell individuals what to
do
in
deed, and individuals need to make sense
of
the
philosophy and to know what to do to
practice
the
philosophy themselves.
Philosophy-oriented organizational
practice
Overall,
organizational
practices
are
mechanisms
used
by an organization to convey its values,
norms,
and
goals to the employees (Gatewood and
Riordan,
1997;
Riordan
and
Gatewood,
1996).
Organizational
practice is considered as the systematized and
customary
activities deemed important by the
organization
and
the members (Poole, 1985). There is growing
awareness that organizational practices might be a
prolific
and
fertile concept that influences the individual
psychological and attitudinal outcomes, as well as the
behavior
of the members of organizations (Pfeffer,
1998;
Verbeke, 2000). For example, organizational
practices
have been found to be related to job
satisfaction,
burnout (Cullen et al., 2008), employee
attitudes
(Gatewood and Riordan, 1997), career
satisfaction,
and

Yingyan Wang
psychological well-being (Burke et al.,
2006),
and
role
stress processes (Singh et al., 1996).
Organizational practices are loosely
coupled
with
core values (Hofstede et al., 1990).
Mission-andvalue-driven practice, which includes
clarity
of
mission and values, reflected in ethical
guidelines
and
behavior, and institutionalizes ethical
values,
and
building relationship of trust and
respect,
has
been
regarded as the key dimension of ethical
organizational culture (Ardichvili et al., 2009).
Consistent
with the core value of the mission-driven
organizations that emphasize protecting and
promoting
human well-being (Brickson, 2007), the
philosophyoriented practice includes detailed lists of
methods,
procedures, and actions that can be taken
to
translate
the management philosophy into everyday
practices,
such as core operational practices and
reward
systems
which encourage individuals to pursue
the
interests
of various stakeholders rather than
pure
profits,
effective training programs which
instruct
individuals to gain a deep understanding of
what is the

legitimate thing to do, and strong support

and commitment from senior management
regarding the pursuit of corporate social
responsibilities.
Given the nature of the management
philosophy,
which might be difficult to be understood,
sensemaking of the management philosophy
occurs
whenever individuals encounter enormous
difficulties in figuring out how and what to do to
follow
the
philosophy. Organizational practices might
affect
the
perceptions of employees because they
function
to
signal, develop, and reinforce the values, norms,
and
goals of the organization to employees
(Gatewood
and Riordan, 1997). In the mission-driven
organizations, the philosophy-oriented organizational
practices might signal, develop, and reinforce
individual
understanding
of
the
management
philosophy
through the everyday practices. Signaling
occurs
when organizational practices communicate
information about the management philosophy
to
employees. For example, senior managers
following
the instruction of the management philosophy
of
serving the interests of the customers could
convey
the meaning and the importance of the
philosophy
to
other ordinary employees. Also, organizational

practices could develop the job skills of

employees
which
are appropriate for the implementation of
the
organizations norms, values, and goals
(Gatewood
and
Riordan, 1997). Consequently, philosophyoriented
organizational practices might help clarify
the
confusion and develop individual faith in the
philosophy,
which means that philosophy-oriented
practice
might
affect the positive sensemaking of the
management
philosophy.
Furthermore,
the
implementation
of
philosophy-oriented practices might prompt a
general
commitment to the primacy of core values
shared
among organizational members, which
could
improve the individual identification with the
management philosophy. Therefore, it could be
hypothesized
that philosophy-oriented organizational
practice
will
influence
individual
adoption
of
management
philosophy in terms of both identification
with,
and
sensemaking of, the management philosophy.
Hypothesis 1a: Philosophy-oriented

organizational
practice is positively related to individual
identification with the management philosophy.
Hypothesis 1b: Philosophy-oriented
organizational
practice is positively related to individual
sensemaking of the management philosophy.

Mission-Driven Organizations in Japan

115
Individual
outcomes:
job
involvement
and organizational citizenship
behavior
In this study, individual outcomes of the
adoption
of
management philosophy will be examined
in
terms
of their attitudinal and behavioral
involvements.
These involvements may include a
willingness
to
expend effort beyond what is required by
the
job,
such as job involvement, and proximityseeking
behaviors of participation in organizational
social
activities (OReilly and Chatman, 1986),
such
as
organizational citizenship behavior. Job
involvement
represents the extent to which employees
psychologically identify with their job, or the
degree
of
importance of the job in the employees
self-image
(Lodahl
and
Kejner, 1965).
While
organizational
citizenship behavior is generally defined as
extra-role
behavior that may benefit an organization or
people
with the organization (Organ, 1988), it is
not
part
of
formal requirements of the organization
or
the
supervisor (Penner et al., 1997).
An organization has an identity to the
extent
that
there is a shared understanding of the
central,
distinctive, and enduring character or
essence
of
the organization among its members
(Albert
and
Whetten, 1985). In the mission-driven
organization,

the management philosophy might be

the
most
salient, stable, and internally consistent
and
powerful
reflection of such an identity. When
individuals
strongly define themselves in terms of the
particular
philosophy, they would incorporate the
fundamental
principles, spirituality and values of the
management
in their self-concepts. Consistent with the
organizational identification theory (Ashforth
and
Mael,
1989),
employees
with
strong
identification
with
the
management
philosophy
are
psychologically
attached
to it, and their positive self-regard is
closely
tied
to
its
success. Apparently, the success of the
philosophy
is
closely associated with individual efforts.
Therefore,
individuals are likely to contribute
beyond
what
is
required
by
the
formal
job
requirements,
which
means that identification with the
management
philosophy might prompt individual job
involvements. For example, identification with
the
philosophy of environmental protection would
prompt
individuals to work hard to decrease air
population
during the work process, and
consequently,
it
requires individuals to involve themselves
deeply
in
their job to fulfill the goal. Furthermore,
identifica-

tion with the management philosophy might

prompt
the individuals to incorporate the philosophy
as
the
collective goal of all company members. Given
that
the success of the philosophy certainly requires
collective actions, individuals might be willing to
engage
in organizational citizenship behaviors to help
others
in making the philosophy to be successful.
It
is
therefore possible that when others need help
in
the
job, individuals with high level of identification
with
management philosophy would try hard to
help
others achieve the collective goal. As a result,
identification with management philosophy could
possibly be positively related to job involvement
and
organizational citizenship behavior.
2a:
Identification with the
management
philosophy is positively related to job
involvement.
Hypothesis 2b:
Identification with the
management
philosophy is positively related to
organizational
citizenship behavior.
Hypothesis

Furthermore, it has been argued that

employees interpretations of mission are important
for
behaviors and outcomes (Whitbred, 2009).
While
individuals might have multiple, loosely
coupled

identities, and inherently conflicting

demands
(Ashforth and Mael, 1989), the sensemaking
process
facilitates organizational members focusing
on
salient cues, and developing perceptions of
how
their
organization works (Whitbred, 2009).
Sensemaking
of the management philosophy would
enable
individuals to understand and interpret the
management
philosophy in their own cognitive map
of
the
management philosophy. Although the
management
philosophy could be framed at a fairly
abstract
level,
the
sensemaking
of
the
abstract
management
philosophy would prompt individuals to
identify
and
clarify how and what to do to carry out
the
philosophy. Mission-driven organizations often
attract
employees with high levels of pro-social
motivation
(Grant and Sumanth, 2009). Given that in
the
mission-driven organization, the pro-social
values
are
preferred, the sensemaking of the
management
philosophy would prompt individuals to
behave
properly in line with the pro-social values.
Individuals
with pro-social values are more likely to
engage
in
organizational citizenship behavior (Bolino,
1999).
Therefore, the sensemaking of the
management

116
philosophy
might
possibly
prompt
individuals
to
engage in organizational citizenship behavior.
Also,
given that sensemaking of the management
philosophy
requires substantial individual efforts in
figuring
out
how and what to do, the efforts might also be
reflected
in individual engagement in work activities
such
as
job
involvement.
The
management
philosophy
always reflects the ideal social image and the
dream
of
the company. Given that it requires a huge
amount
of
effort on working to practice the
philosophy,
individuals attempting to acquire deeper
understanding
of
the management philosophy might possibly
be
immersed in their jobs. As a result, the
sensemaking
of
the management philosophy might also be
positively
related to job involvement.
Hypothesis 3a: Sensemaking of the

management
philosophy is positively related to job
involvement.
Hypothesis 3b: Sensemaking of the
management
philosophy is positively related to
organizational
citizenship behavior.

An integrated framework
Figure 1 shows the conceptual framework
of
this
study. The central part of the framework
is
the
individual adoption of the management
philosophy,
which is categorized into two dimensions:
identifi-

Yingyan Wang
cation with management philosophy,
and
the
sensemaking of the management
philosophy.
The
left part of the framework indicates the
factor
of
philosophy-oriented practice, which
might affect

Ado
ption
of

individual
adoption
of
management
philosophy.
Furthermore, the right part of the framework
shows
the possible attitudinal and behavioral
outcomes,
which includes job involvement and
organizational
citizenship
behavior.
The
conceptual
framework
suggests that the philosophy-oriented practice
might
affect the identification with the management
philosophy and sensemaking of the management
philosophy, which in turn affects individual
attitudinal
and behavior outcomes, job involvement and
organizational citizenship behavior.
A given variable may be said to
function
as a mediator to the extent that it accounts
for
the relation between the predictor and the
criterion (Baron and Kenny, 1986). In line with
the
above hypotheses, the philosophy-oriented
practice

might foster individual adoption of

management
philosophy, while individual adoption
of
the
management philosophy should enhance
individual
outcomes, which indicates that the
philosophyoriented practices might affect individual
outcomes
of job involvement and organizational
citizenship
behavior through the adoption of
management
philosophy. That is, the adoption of
management
philosophy might mediate the relationship
between
philosophy-oriented
practice
and
individual
outcomes
of
job
involvement
and
organizational
citizenship behavior.
Hypothesis 4a: The relationship between

philosophy-oriented practice and individual

outcomes of
job involvement and organizational
citizenship behavior is mediated by the
identification with the management
philosophy.

management philosophy

I
d
e
n
t
i
f
i
c
a
t
i
o
n

o
r
g
a
n
i
z
a
t
i
o
n
a
l

Philosophy
oriented

w
i
t
h
management
philosophy

p
r
a
c
t
i
c
e
Sensemaking
management
philosophy

Figure
1.
Concept
ual
framew
ork of
this
study.

of

Individual outcomes
Organiz
ational
Job
involvement

Citizens
hip
behavior

Mission-Driven Organizations in Japan

117
Hypothesis 4b: The relationship between philoso-

Measures
phy-oriented practice and individual outcomes of
job involvement and organizational
search instrument employed was a
citizenship behavior is mediated by the
survey
quessensemaking of the management
tionnaire. With the cooperation of the
philosophy.
corporate
CSR department, 1200 employees were
randomly
selected based on the employee number.
Research methodology
The
survey questionnaire was sent by e-mail to
Population and sampling
all
the
selected employees by an intraParticipants in this study are employees
network
of
the
working
for
corporation with a message which
a general trading corporation with global
explained
the
operating
aims and objectives of the research, and
locations, network, and information
provided
resources
based
assurances
regarding
the
in Japan. The corporation has established its
confidentiality
of
data.
original
A contract was drawn up indicating
management philosophy system involving
that
the
corporate
researchers would not disclose any
mission, vision, and values in line with its
individual
angood
swers to the corporation or any other
social reputation and various social
third
parties.
contribution
In total, 1019 employees answered the
activities. In particular, the corporate
questionmission
is
to
naire. The 1019 comprised 281 females
strive to contribute to the creation of a
and
738
future
male employees. 156 were in their
where the aspirations of the people can be
twenties,
311
in
fulfilled.
their thirties, 307 in their forties, and
Data from CSR Companies Handbook 2007
245
in
their
(Toyo
fifties.
Keizai, 2006) indicates that the CSR
performance
of
the corporation is clarified as the highest
level.
Also,
several interviews conducted by the
researchers
indicate that the corporation has a missiondriven
culture.
With a history of over 60 years, the
corporation
has nearly 6000 employees working in 151
offices
in 65 countries until August, 2009. The
main
re-

The questionnaire includes items measuring

the
adoption
of
management
philosophy,
philosophyoriented
organizational
practice,
job
involvement,
organizational citizenship behavior, and
individual
demographic
variables.
Excepting
the
demographic
variables, a five-point Likert-type scale is
applied
with anchors labeled (1) disagree; (2)
moderately
disagree; (3) neither agree nor disagree; (4)
moderately agree; and (5) agree.
The adoption of management philosophy
Given that no previous studies have examined
the
management philosophy from an individual
psychological perspective, original items are applied
in
the
study. Theoretically, the adoption of
management
philosophy could be classified into two
dimensions:
identification with management philosophy
and
sensemaking of management philosophy.
Identification with management philosophy is measured
by
three items, including I am identified with
the
management philosophy and ethical codes of
my

company, The management philosophy

of
my
company is valuable in helping me
overcoming
the
difficulties at work, and a reversed item of
I
could
not accept the management philosophy of
my
company because it is opposed to my individual
value.
Furthermore, the sensemaking of the
management
philosophy is measured by the following
three
items,
I could make sense of the management
philosophy
of my company very well, I am able to
interpret
the
management philosophy of the company in
my
own
words, and I can explain the management
philosophy to people outside the company if
required.
The original alphas of the overall adoption
of
management philosophy, identification of
management
philosophy,
and
sensemaking
of
management
philosophy are 0.83, 0.70, and 0.90,
respectively.

Philosophy-oriented organizational practice

Philosophy-oriented organizational practice
is
measured by six items: The philosophy
oriented

118
training and education programs are
implemented
very well in my company, The
management
philosophy of the company has been clearly
communicated to every employees, The
philosophy
oriented behaviors are preferred and
favored
in
employee evaluation and promotion, The
senior
managers and my supervisors prefer to
follow
the
instructions of the management philosophy
whenever they encounter difficulties, My
supervisor
respects the management philosophy very
much,
and The top-level managers do not
change
their
attitudes and stances even when faced with
harsh
problems. The original alpha is 0.77.
Job involvement
Three items are used to measure job
involvement with an original alpha of 0.81
from Japan Institute for Labour Policy and
Training (1999). I feel that the most
fulfilling time of my life is spent at work,
I feel great satisfaction with my job, and
I am very much involved in my present
job.
Organizational citizenship behavior
In this study, the organizational citizenship
behavior
is
measured by 10 items in reference to
Konovsky
and
Organ (1996) and Organ (1988): I always
stay
informed about the change in the company; I
always
help others who are in need of support; I
never
take
a break without legitimate reason; I would

Yingyan Wang
not
hurt
others feelings even as a joke; I
always
stay
informed about the developments and
situation
of
the
company; I would like to help others
even
by
sacrificing my own time; I would try to
avoid
creating
problems for others; I would attend and
participate
in events regarding my company even
though
it
is
not
required; I would not complain a lot
about
trivial
matters; and I always try to give others
useful
advice
for avoiding failure. The original alpha is
0.70.
Control variables
Age

(under 19 = 1; 20-29 = 2;
30-39
=
3;
40-49 = 4; over 50 = 5), gender
(female
=
0;
male = 1), and status (temporary
employee = 1;

clerical assistant = 2; clerical = 3; junior

manager = 4; middle manager = 5; senior manager
= 6) are added as control variables in this
study.

Analyses and results

Factor analysis

The discriminant validity of the constructs is

assessed
with confirmatory factor analysis. First, a
five-factor
model
(philosophy-oriented
practice,
identification
with
philosophy,
sensemaking
of
philosophy,
job
involvement, and organizational citizenship
behavior) is examined. This model has a good fit
to
the
observed covariance matrix, with all the
standardized
factor loadings being significant. Then, a
series
of
conceptually reasonable models are
compared
with
the baseline model. Table II summarizes these
results
and shows that the baseline model with five
factors
to be the best fit. The two dimensions
of
the
adoption of the management philosophy are
shown
to be distinct from each other.
Furthermore,
job
involvement and organizational citizenship
behavior
are also shown to be different variables.

To testify the theoretical validity of the twodimensional model of the individual adoption of
management philosophy, the identification with
management
philosophy and the sensemaking of management
philosophy, a principal factor method with a
varimax
rotation is performed on the six items
developed
to
measure the individual adoption of management
philosophy. The result of the factor analysis is
shown
in
Table I. Two clear factors emerge as the result: The
first
factor, defined by first three items, is based on
the
sensemaking of the management philosophy. The
second factor, with the remaining three items Correlations
reflects
the
identification with management philosophy.
Table III indicates descriptive statistics and
correlations of all the variables of this study. As
indicated by
Discriminant validity

Mission-Driven Organizations in Japan

119
TABLE I
Varimax factor loadings for identification with management philosophy and sensemaking of
management philosophy
dimensions (N = 1019)
Item
1.
0.22
2.
0.28
3.
0.27
4.
0.94
5.
0.64
6.
-0.41

1
2

I could make sense of the management philosophy of my company very

0.94

well
I am able to interpret the management philosophy of the company in my

0.80

own words
I can explain the management philosophy to people outside the company if

0.73

required
I am identified with the management philosophy and ethical codes of my

0.22

company
The management philosophy of my company is valuable in helping me

0.23

overcoming the difficulties at work

I could not accept the management philosophy of my company because it is

-0.12

opposed to my individual value (reversed item)

Percentage of variance explained

50.48
13.79

All the bold values are statistically significant at ***p < 0.001.
TABLE II
Comparison of measurement models
v2

df

Five factors
0.89

1230.5
0.06

265

Four factors: philosophy-oriented practice;

0.81
identification
of
management
philosophy
+
sensemaking of
management philosophy;
job
involvement;
OCB
Three factors: philosophy-oriented practice;
0.74
identification of
management philosophy + sensemaking

1839.5
0.08

269

2416.5
0.09

272

Model
CFI RMSEA
Baseline
model
Model 1

Model 2

No. of factors

Dv2

GFI AGFI
0.91

0.89

609***

0.86

0.84

573***

0.82

0.78

Model 3

Model 4

of management
philosophy; job
involvement + OCB
Two factors: philosophy-oriented
0.66
practice + identification
of management
philosophy +
sensemaking of
management
philosophy; job
involvement + OCB
One factor: philosophy-oriented
0.56
practice + identification
of management
philosophy +
sensemaking of
management
philosophy + job
involvement + OCB

3099.1
0.10

274

682.6***

0.76

0.72

3943.8
0.11

275

844.7***

0.72

0.67

OCB organizational citizenship behavior.

***p < 0.001.

Table III, philosophy-oriented practice is positively

philosophy (r = 0.38,
related with both identification with the manageHypotheses 1a
ment philosophy (r = 0.37, p < 0.01) and sensewith Hypotheses

making of the management

p<0.01), which is consistent with
and 1b. Furthermore, congruent

120

Yingyan Wang
TABLE III
Means, standard deviations, and correlations of the study variables (N = 1019)

Variable
6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Gender
Age
Status
Identification with
management philosophy
Sensemaking of
management philosophy
Philosophy-oriented practice
Job involvement
0.32**
Organizational
0.27**
citizenship behavior

M
7

SD

0.72
2.63
4.10
4.15

0.45
1.01
1.18
0.68

0.23**
0.60**
0.03

0.40**
-0.06

3.73

0.95

0.38**

3.70

0.67

3.47 0.90
4.28 0.40
0.41**

0.05

0.23**

0.38**

0.03

0.11**

0.01

0.15**

0.37**

0.38**

0.31**

0.15**

0.25**

0.26**

0.34**

0.09**

0.12**

0.16**

0.31**

0.31**

**p < 0.01.

TABLE IV
Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses
Identification with
management
philosophy

Sensemaking of
Job involvement
Organizational
management
citizenship behavior
philosophy

Model 1a Model 1b Model 2a Model 2b Model 3a Model 3b Model

4a Model 4b
Control variables
Gender
Age
Status

0.24***
0.00
0.09**
0.07
0.20***
0.13**

0.23*** 0.00
-0.08*
0.11*** -0.09**
0.07*
0.15*** 0.09*
0.05
0.33***

Philosophy-oriented practices
Identification with
0.30***
management philosophy
Sensemaking of
0.31***
management philosophy
F
77.65*** 105.41***
9.65*** 49.50***
DR2
0.10
0.17
R2
0.19
0.29
0.03
0.20

-0.02

0.25***

0.06*

-0.07*

0.06

0.00

0.08*

0.01

0.04
0.37***

0.24***
0.25***
3.36*

42.44*** 40.75*** 57.16***

0.13

0.01

0.14

0.11
0.11

0.22

*p <0.05; **p< 0.01; ***p< 0.001.

2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b, identification with the

management philosophy is positively associated
with
both
job involvement (r = 0.26, p < 0.01) and
organizational citizenship behavior (r = 0.31, p <
0.01),
while sensemaking of the management
philosophy
is
also positively related to job involvement (r
=
0.34,
p<0.01) and organizational citizenship
behavior
(r = 0.31, p <0.01).

Multiple regression analyses

The results of hierarchical multiple
regression
analyses are shown in Table IV. For the
regressions
on
identification with the
management
philosophy
and
sensemaking of management philosophy,
the
significance of the ANOVAs reaches the p <
0.001
levels respectively. As shown in models 1b
and 2b,

Mission-Driven Organizations in Japan

121
philosophy-oriented practice is positively
related
with identification with management
philosophy
(b = 0.33, p <0.001) and sensemaking of
management philosophy (b = 0.37, p < 0.001),
which
suggests that hypotheses 1a and 1b are
supported.
Also, for the regression on job
involvement
and
organizational citizenship behavior, the
significance
of the ANOVAs reaches the p < 0.001
levels.
The
model 3b shows that both identification
with
management philosophy (b = 0.24, p< 0.001)
and
sensemaking of management philosophy (b
=
0.25,
p<0.001) are positively related with job
involvement. In addition, for the regression on
organizational citizenship behavior, the model 4b
shows
that
both identification with management
philosophy
(b = 0.30, p <0.001) and sensemaking of
management philosophy (b = 0.31, p < 0.001) are
positively related to organizational citizenship
behavior.
The above results indicate that Hypotheses
2a,
2b,
3a, and 3b are also supported.

presents

I
d
e
n
t
i
f
i
c
a
t
i
o
n

w
i
t
h
m
a
n
a
g
e
m
e
n
t

0.59***

Phil
oso
phy
orie
nted

org
aniz
atio
nal

practice

0.49***

Structural equation modeling

Structural equation models are further
used
to
test
Hypotheses 4a, and 4b and confirm other
hypotheses. A full and a partial mediation model
according
to James et al. (2006) are tested. Figure 2

p
h
i
l
o
s
o
p
h
y

the results for the full mediation model.

Numbers
shown along the paths in Figure 2 represent
standardized regression coefficients. The fit of the
model
is shown as following: v2(332, N = 1019) =
1594.3,
p<0.01, RMSEA = 0.06, GFI = 0.90,
AGFI =
0.87, CFI = 0.87. The philosophy-oriented
practice
is positively related to both identification
with
the
management philosophy (b = 0.59, p < 0.001)
and
the sensemaking of the management
philosophy
(b = 0.49, p < 0.001). The partial mediation
model,
which includes direct paths from philosophyoriented practice to job involvement and
organizational
citizenship behavior, does not improve fitness
significantly, Dv2 (2, N = 1019) = 5.02, ns.
Therefore,
the full mediation model is preferred. Overall,
the
results of the structural equation model
support
Hypotheses 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b.
Finally, indirect effects are obtained. The

indirect
effect of philosophy-oriented practice
on
job
involvement
through
individual
identification
with
management philosophy and sensemaking
of
management philosophy is 0.32 (t = 7.71, p <
0.001).
Also, the indirect effect of philosophyoriented
practice on organizational citizenship behavior
is
0.34
(t = 7.95, p < 0.001). Therefore, the
Hypotheses
4a
and 4b, which speculate that the
relationships
between philosophy-oriented organizational
practice
and job involvement or organizational
citizenship

S
e
n
s
e
m
a
k
i
i
n
g

Job
involvement
0.27***

0.22***

0.30***

o
f
management
philosophy

0.30***
O
r
g
a
n
i
z
a
t
i
o
n
a
l

C
i
t
i
z
e
n
s
h
i
p

b
e
h
a
v
i
o
r

Figure 2. Structural equation modeling results for the full mediation model. Control variables are
included in the analysis but are not shown for simplicity.

122
behavior are mediated by the adoption of
management philosophy, are supported.
Conclusions and discussions
Many mission-driven organizations have
incorporated business ethical values into the
management
philosophy. As a result, management
philosophy
has
become an essential source of ethical
foundation
for
Japanese companies. This study examines
the
possible relationships between management
philosophy
and individual attitudinal and behavior
outcomes,
and proposes a model including philosophyoriented
practice,
individual
adoption
of
management
philosophy and individual outcomes. The
adoption
of
management
philosophy
has
been
demonstrated
to
be classified into two dimensions, viz.,
identification
with
management
philosophy,
and
sensemaking
of
management philosophy. The philosophyoriented
practice might have an impact on the
identification
with, and sensemaking of, management
philosophy.
In addition, both the identification with
management philosophy and sensemaking of the
management philosophy are positively related
to
job
involvement and organizational citizenship
behavior. Furthermore, the results of the
structural
equation model suggest that the individual
adoption
of
management philosophy, which includes

Yingyan Wang
identification with the management philosophy
and
sensemaking
of
the
management
philosophy,
could
mediate the relationships between
philosophyoriented practice and individual
outcomes
of
job involvement and organizational
citizenship
behavior.
Practically the research increases our
understanding into the effectiveness of the
management
philosophy as an essential source of ethical
foundation.
The incorporation of business ethical
values
into
the
management philosophy indicates the
commitment
and determination of the company to
endorse
the ethical values through various
formal
systems.
Functioning as the fundamental and
basic
principle
to guide the management and business,
the
ethicoriented management philosophy could
help
individuals to establish their own behavior
principles.
The examination of the mechanism,
through
which
management philosophy affects individual
outcomes,
might shed light on other organizations
starting to

realize the importance of organizational

practices
in
the
clarification
of
mission
and
institutionalization
of ethical values. In line with different
motivation
for studies, scholars have examined
organizational
practices from various aspects, such as
human
resource
practices (Guthrie, 2001),
management
techniques (Staw and Epstein, 2000),
organizational
and job characteristics (Kirkman and Rosen,
1999).
In this study, philosophy-oriented practice
includes
various organizational efforts, such as training
and
education programs, employee evaluation and
promotion systems, ethical leadership of the
organization, and the modeling role of managers
and
supervisors. When employees believe that
policies
and procedures regarding ethics are
followed
by
managers and other individuals in the
organization
a
higher level of corporate ethical value exist
(Baker
et al., 2006). The results of the study suggest
that
the
most critical and initial step for an
organization
to
cultivate a mission-driven culture and to build
corporate ethical values is to design and implement
such
comprehensive philosophy-oriented practices.
Furthermore, the result, that individual
adoption
of management philosophy could fully
mediate
the
relationship between philosophy-oriented

practices
and individual outcomes, suggests that it is
important
for the organization to understand whether
individual employees really accept and are
willing
to
follow the management philosophy. If the
organizational effort of clarifying the mission and
carrying
out the philosophy could not be
transformed
to
individual
identification
with
the
management
philosophy and sensemaking of the philosophy,
then
the
organization might be frustrated by the
fact
that
management philosophy is not related to
visible
individual outcomes. All the employees
should
be
involved in the process of practicing the
management philosophy, although the issue of
sustainability
or philosophy might be little understood or
appreciated below senior management levels
(Fenwick,
2007). This study implies that management
philosophy is not only an issue relevant to
top
level
management, but also to all the individual
employees. The top level management team is
critical
in
implementing the philosophy-oriented
practice,
while the effectiveness of the practice is
dependent
on whether individual employees could
really
adopt
the philosophy into their self-concepts. The
more
the individuals adopt the management
philosophy of

Mission-Driven Organizations in Japan

123
the company, the more they might be
involved in the job and engaged in
behaviors of helping others and the
organization.
In addition to practical implication, this
study
could also provide intriguing implications
for
academic research. In this study, both
identification
with the management philosophy and
sensemaking
of the management philosophy have been
demonstrated to be important and distinct
dimensions
of
the adoption of management philosophy.
Conceptually, these two dimensions are
cognitive
and
emotional, yet they are complementary in
that
the
identification with the management
philosophy
mainly deals with the positive cognitive
and
emotional linkage with the management
philosophy,
while the sensemaking of the management
philosophy centers on why and how such
cognitive
and
emotional linkages might work. While
previous
academic research has typically either
focused
on
the
identification or sensemaking in an
organizational
setting, this research suggests that the
combination
of
both perspectives might be fruitful and
effective
in
explaining the concept more thoroughly in
organization studies.
Also, the study extends and advances
previous
studies on mission-driven organization with
the
micro organizational behavioral approach, by

examining
individuals
perception,
cognition,
attitudes,
and
behavior. Although some previous
studies
have
focused
on
the
mission-driven
organization,
the
mechanism
through
which
organizational
practice
influences individual outcomes has been
unclear.
The
evidence shown in this study suggests that a
successful
mission-driven organization could change
individual
attitudes and behaviors positively
through
the
adoption of the management philosophy into
ones
selfconcept. It has been argued that
mission-driven
organization often attracts employees with
high
levels
of pro-social motivation, and pro-socially
motivated
employees often achieve high levels of task
and
extrarole performance (Grant and Sumanth,
2009).
However, this study argues that the power
of
missiondriven organization is not only in its
attractiveness
to
individuals who are predisposed to prosocial
values,
but also in its capability to change
individuals
to
behave pro-socially through the adoption
of
the
management
philosophy,
which
is
contingent
on
the
effort that the organization has made.

Furthermore, one conclusion of this study,

which
claims
that
individual
adoption
of
management
philosophy is positively related to
individual
outcomes, is consistent with previous
study
on
organizational spirituality (Kolodinsky et al.,
2008).
Organizational spirituality, which refers to
the
individuals perception of the spiritual values
within
an organizational setting, has been found
to
be
positively related to job involvement,
organizational
identification, and work rewards satisfaction
(Kolodinsky et al., 2008). However, management
philosophy is not equivalent to organizational
spirituality,
in that organizational spirituality is more
associated
with the ethical values that reflect ones beliefs
about
the organizational life, while management
philosophy is more focused on the core values and
beliefs
regarding the business management. Also, the
study
on organizational spirituality does not clarify
how
individuals obtain the perception on the
spiritual
values of the organizational setting, while this
study
outlines the framework that through the
individual
adoption of the management philosophy, the
organizational practices could be associated with
individual outcomes.

The limitations of this study could be

discussed
in
the light of its methodological weakness and
research
design. First, causal direction cannot be
fully
substantiated because of the cross-sectional
design.
Future research could develop longitudinal
studies
to
explore the variance of individual outcomes
resulting from the adoption of management
philosophy,
and examine a company beginning to
promote
the
management philosophy and cultivate the
missiondriven culture. Second, although this
study
has
examined
attitudinal
and
behavioral
outcomes
of
job
involvement and organizational citizenship
behavior, future studies might examine more
individual
performance
and
organizational
performance
variables.
Finally,
although
individual
demographic
variables have been included in the
examination,
the
antecedent of the adoption of management
philosophy has been limited to the philosophyoriented
practice to be in line with the main goal of
the
study.
It might be intriguing for future studies to
explore
more factors influencing individual
adoption
of
management
philosophy,
including
organizational
factors, individual variables, and the
interaction
of
organizational and individual variables.

124
Acknowledgments

Yingyan Wang
tween Mission Statements and

Stakeholder Manage83(2), 207-216.

The author would like to thank Professor
Iwao Taka and Professor Yoshiaki Takao for
the opportunity to carry out this project, and
Professor Koichiro Hioki for his generous
guidance and encouragements. The author
owes her thanks also to the editor, and
anonymous reviewers for their valuable
comments and suggestions. The author is
also grateful to Kyocera Chair of
Management Philosophy at Kyoto University
for the financial support. Additional partial
support was granted to the author by the Japan
Society for the Promotion of Science, under
Grant No. 22730303.

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Faculty of International
Studies,
Hiroshima
City
University,
3-4-1 OzukaHigashi,
Asaminami-Ku, Hiroshima 7313194,
Japan
E-mail:
oueien@intl.hiroshima-cu.ac.jp

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