Purpose in Family Businesses: Insights from Purpose Statement Analysis

Family firms are distinguished by the interplay between family and business systems, a dynamic that is evident in their corporate purpose as well as other organizational outcomes. With purpose increasingly recognized as a key strategic lever, this research addresses a gap in understanding how family businesses embed this duality within their purpose statements. Employing an inductive approach, the study integrates qualitative content analysis with quantitative cluster analysis to investigate purpose statements from 139 family-owned firms, uncovering three distinct purpose orientations: planetary guardians, human-centered advocates and sustainability seekers. This research contributes to existing literature by examining the heterogeneity of family firms in terms of how they conceptualize their reason for being and by introducing the concept of “purpose orientation”, which captures the influence of longevity and leadership on organizational values and strategic positioning.