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Problem specification is a key front-end step in the innovation process. This paper aims to introduce ‘purpose-context’ – a conceptual framework to systematically explore problem-specification across mapped contexts. The framework’s logic is operationalized by the inherent structure of language – its syntax/grammar, which enables the systematic exploration of problem-specification. The method showcases two approaches to structurally explore the vast textual databases available to us today for problem-specification in innovation science, thereby furthering the pursuit of innovation through its foundational elements.

The conceptualization of the purpose-context framework was guided by logic and the scholarship of integration applied to bodies of work including innovation, design and linguistics. Further, the key elements of the conceptual framework were unpacked and structured using the syntax of language. Two approaches to operationalize the method were developed to illustrate the systematicity of the process. The construct was then validated by using it to systematically specify problems in the technical context of Raman spectroscopy and in the socio-technical context of international development. Overall, this paper is a work of relational scholarship of integration that bridges academic-practitioner gaps.

The purpose-context framework is well-suited for application in the innovation process with applicability across several abstraction levels. One key contribution is the recognition that a broader problem-specification exercise covering one-one, one-many, many-one, many-many problem-context mappings expands the range of potential solutions (innovations) to address the problem-space. Additionally, the work finds that it is possible to provide structure to the cognitive elements of the innovation process by drawing inspiration from the structure inherent in other cognitive processes such as language (e.g., parts-of-speech, phrase composition). Drawing from language is particularly appropriate as language mediates communication in any collective pursuit of the innovation process and furthermore because a large amount of information exists in textual form. Finally, this paper finds that there is merit in approaching innovation science from its foundational elements – i.e. data, information and knowledge.

While the purpose-context framework is broadly applicable, the methodical approach to provide structure to the front-end cognitive process is ‘one’ fruitful approach. We suspect other approaches exist.

The purpose-context framework is simple in its framing yet provides innovators, scholars and thought leaders, the ability to specify the problem space with greater coverage and precision. Further, in the solution-space, it provides them the ability to choose the breadth of solution scope (e.g. targeted solution addressing a single problem, targeted solution addressing a set of problems, the combination of solutions addressing a single problem and combination of solutions addressing a combination of problems). In addition, by pairing the creative front-end innovation process with machine power, this study provides a formal method to scale-up the coverage of creativity (and potentially that of solutions to those problems) and reduces the chances of missed/blind-spots in problem-specification. Finally, evaluating purpose-contexts leads to ‘capability-contexts’ – a capability-oriented viewpoint informing capability development decisions such as the focus of R&D programs and related resource allocation decisions.

The paper uses logic to connect multiple bodies of research with a goal to provide systematicity to problem-specification – problem-specification, which is an under-addressed part of the innovation process. The use of data to systematically explore problem-space lends it systematicity (repeatability and measurability) and is therefore, valuable to innovation science. The proof-of-concept demonstrates the conversion of concept into a method for practical application.

The paper seeks to illuminate the intersection between doing greater good in the world and the self-disciplining that comes along with it. The paper raises a discussion on how purpose-driven organizations with a sustainability focus should be concerned about internal social sustainability in order to maintain consistency between external purpose and internal well-being of employees.

This article investigates the interrelations between purpose-driven organizations' quest for social sustainability and internal work conditions exemplified through experiences with work intensification. A governmentality studies approach is applied to investigate how employees' perceptions of doing greater good in the world also become a productive self-disciplining strategy that potentially increases work intensification and simultaneously result in an instrumentalization of working for greater sustainability.

Working with an organizational sustainability purpose can, in some situations, create dilemmas that may decrease employee well-being as it demands continuous negotiation of boundaries between paid work and free time, meaningfulness and work devotion, self-management and work intensification.

The paper raises a discussion on how purpose-driven organizations with a sustainability focus should be concerned about internal (social) sustainability in order to maintain consistency between external purpose and internal well-being of employees.

This paper aims to offer evidence-based advice for leaders on how to be purpose-led and how to use ones purpose to create more opportunity, to become a better leader and to establish a clear sense of direction and conviction at work and in life.

By asking the right questions, implementing seven key principles and creating a purpose statement, employees, employers and businesses can identity their purpose, achieve more satisfying results establish a clearer sense of purpose and become better leaders.

A statement of purpose will give a person more direction and promise a future of more fulfillment, more inspiration and more success.

Reaching goals and attaining success is complicated and personal, but these tools offer practical, proven tips and strategies for uncovering one's purpose and living out one's purpose on a daily, monthly and yearly manner.

This study aimed to examine the effects of two sponsorship purpose articulations (commercially oriented vs noncommercially oriented) on attitude toward the sponsor via sponsor–property fit and the moderating effect of the overlapped mission between the sponsor and the property.

A 2 (purpose articulation type: commercially oriented vs noncommercially oriented) × 2 (mission overlap articulation condition: present vs absent) between-subjects experimental design with a control condition was employed with student sample (n = 171). The moderated mediation model was tested using Hayes' PROCESS macro model 8.

The commercially oriented purpose articulation did not improve sponsor–property fit as much as the noncommercially oriented purpose articulation, resulting in less favorable attitudes toward the sponsor. When the mission overlap was simultaneously articulated, the less positive effects of the commercially oriented purpose articulation were weaker.

The findings provided incongruent sponsors with insights on mixed articulation strategies with sponsorship purposes and the overlapped mission.

This study extends previous research by presenting the first understanding of the different processes in which two sponsorship purpose articulations developed attitudes toward the sponsor via sponsor–property fit and by investigating the moderating effect of the simultaneously articulated mission overlap on the processes.

“Shared purpose,” understood as a widely shared commitment to the organization’s fundamental raison d’être, can be a powerful driver of organizational performance by providing both motivation and direction for members’ joint problem-solving efforts. So far, however, we understand little about the organization design that can support shared purpose in the context of large, complex business enterprises. Building on the work of Selznick and Weber, we argue that such contexts require a new organizational form, one that we call collaborative. The collaborative organizational form is grounded in Weber’s value-rational type of social action, but overcomes the scale limitations of the collegial form of organization that is conventionally associated with value-rational action. We identify four organizational principles that characterize this collaborative form and a range of managerial policies that can implement those principles.

In recent years, the field of comparative and international education (CIE) has experienced an outburst of self-reflective papers wherein comparativists study the nature of the field and map its content. This study contributes to this trend by drawing attention to a previously unstudied aspect of CIE: its purpose. Using Arnove’s dimensions as a starting point to create five new purpose categories, four prominent CIE journals are surveyed to test whether the pragmatic history of CIE is evident in its current body of research. In this process, a complete and clear genetic mapping of the journals is created, which explores their similarities and differences, as well as the changes in their content over time. Findings indicate that the pragmatic purpose of CIE dominates, though it is primarily emancipatory and transformative in its prescription. Furthermore, articles rooted in specific situational contexts were more prominent than expected considering the comparative and international nature of the field.

The purpose this paper is to explore walking with purpose in extra care, retirement and domestic housing settings to better understand and support people living with dementia in these settings, develop recommendations and inform practice.

A mixed-methods study was used: scoping literature review; online survey of extra care and retirement housing managers in the UK; case studies involving interviews with staff and family carers (n = 14) of ten individuals who engaged in walking with purpose in the different housing settings.

Although residents who walk with purpose constitute a minority (0–2 residents), managing walking with purpose can be challenging and time consuming. Distraction or redirection was the most common response. Other strategies included identifying the resident’s motivations and accommodating their wishes or walking with them. Culture of care, staff training and dementia-friendly design are keys to effective support for safe walking with purpose. Responses to walking with purpose in the domestic housing settings have raised serious deprivation of liberty issues.

This study had a number of limitations. The completed survey questionnaires represent a self-selected sample of extra care and retirement housing settings, and responses are based on the perceptions of the staff members completing the survey. There were a relatively small number of case study sites (three extra care housing and three retirement housing), and it was not possible to interview family members for all of the residents who walked with purpose.

This study provides unique data on walking with purpose in extra care and retirement housing setting in the UK.

One way of looking at the association between ethics and stakeholder theory – of examining the idea that stakeholder theory has a strong moral foundation – is to consider how the stakeholder approach might in fact be directly driven by and guided by the moral obligations of business. An alternative perspective we offer is that stakeholder theory only indirectly derives from the moral obligations of business, with business purpose serving as a mediating factor. We work through the fairly straightforward logic behind that alternative perspective in this chapter. We argue that it is a better way to think about the association between ethics and stakeholder theory, particularly because it allows for a theoretical and practical distinction between corporate social responsibility and stakeholder theory. Stakeholder theory can thereby continue developing as a theory of strategic management, even as it brings morals to the fore in ways that other approaches to strategic management do not.