"Corporate Purpose" as a False Friend: A Bibliometric Analysis

The term “corporate purpose” is frequently used in both academic and non-academic writings today. However, it is also quite ambiguous, particularly in relation to the precise obligations that companies may be expected to fulfil. By presenting a bibliometric analysis of this term over recent decades, this paper assesses its popularity and usage. Amongst others, it finds that the term “corporate purpose” was already quite popular in the 1960s and 1980s, yet with different meanings than today; that recent publications discuss this term in more detail than in the past; that it is today often associated with social and environmental topics; and that it has recently become a term frequently used in the management and business literature. Overall, the empirical findings of this paper confirm its many ambiguities and thus expresses some doubts of whether it could be a useful legal term, while it may well be suitable as a conceptual framing device for the importance of social and environmental interests related to companies.