Living it up - How Managers Use Core Values to Govern

Abstract

Core values have become a widespread feature of contemporary organizations, yet limited research explains how they function in practice as tools for governance. This study examines how managers account for the use of core values to govern organizations. Drawing on the Economies of Worth framework, we treat core values as principles actors mobilize when justifying and evaluating action. Empirically, the study is based on accounts from 23 semi-structured interviews and supported by three observations across four Swedish organizations. The findings show that managers used core values to influence what counted as appropriate conduct in the organization. Managers kept the values alive by making them visible, practical, and credible. Core values were used by managers as containers for narratives about appropriate conduct. Managers worked to become the authoritative voice on what the values meant by selecting value agendas, controlling formal value discussions, and claiming the right to judge value-aligned conduct. Core values were also conceptualized as giving actors a shared language for discussing expectations, defending decisions, and raising critique. The study adds to an interpretivist understanding of values by highlighting mutual assessment. It extends literature challenging assumptions of stable value meanings by showing how narratives and authority shape what core values are taken to mean and how they are used.