Corporate Purpose in Public and Private Firms

The authors thank David Frieberg for excellent research assistance and the Great Place to Work Institute, particularly Amy Lyman, Ed Frauenheim, and Marcus Erb for their support. This paper benefitted from comments from participants at the Wharton Org Theory workshop, the Strategy Research Forum, the Strategy Science Conference, the Academy of Management Strategy Division Executive Committee annual meeting, Oxford University, the University of Rome, the University of Miami, Boston University, University of Hong Kong, Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD), the Ackerman Corporate Governance Conference, Instituto de Estudios Superiores de la Empresa–The European Corporate Governance Institute, Purdue, the University of Maryland, the Society for Institutional & Organizational Economics Annual Conference, and Harvard Business School. The authors are solely responsible for any errors.