Setting the strategic direction: the role of the mission, vision, values statements and strategic leadership

Purpose Not having an informed – set strategic direction – exposes organisations to the potential risk of going and arriving at a destination in future that might be undesirable; the study provides an understanding of how organisations set their strategic direction taking into consideration the role of the mission, vision and values statements as well as the role of strategic leadership. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review as it relates to organisational mission statements, vision statements, values statements and strategic leadership was conducted. A Scopus search was conducted for the period 2001 to 2023 to identify the respective publications with “mission statement”, “vision statement”, “values statement” and “strategic leadership” in their article titles for this period. The top 15 publications with the highest citations under each of the four statements were selected, thus 60 publications in total were reviewed for this study under this selection criteria. Beyond the insight gained from the identified publications, further insight was gained from content analysis of 10 C-suite interview articles identified that were written by Abby Ghobadian and Nicholas O’Regan. Findings The review established that the mission, vision and values statements are critical in capturing and communicating the set strategic direction of the organisation. They also act as an anchor in the setting and review of the strategy as well as performance assessments, especially in this era of vast technological advancements. Strategic leadership is a key enabler in setting the strategic direction and ensuring that the right resources are marshalled to inform the setting and communication of the strategic direction. Originality/value The review contributes to the body of knowledge by providing (1) an understanding of how organisations set their strategic direction; (2) an assessment of the role of the mission, vision and values statements; (3) the positioning of the role of strategic leadership in setting the organisational strategic direction; and (4) provision of a theoretical framework on how to set the strategic direction, which also highlights the importance of organisational leadership to have a good “organisational situation awareness”, as well as the ability to inform and address contemporary organisational challenges such as digital transformation, sustainability and corporate social responsibility.