Frames of Reference in Financial Corporate Governance and Communications

Empirical research identifies the strategic power of corporate values in influencing the success of organizations. Presents qualitative research which elicits chairmen’s values expressed through value maps. Presents two such maps, both of which were extracted from interview transcripts using an adapted version of means/end chains. The interviews with chairmen of investment trusts was considered to be valuable, as the past experience that these respondents bring to the values debate will enable a comprehensive value mapping exercise to be meaningful and to inform further quantitative studies which can verify the frequency/importance of the corporate values identified. The findings do corroborate some of the values identified in previous research. More importantly, uses the maps to identify corporate value templates based on template themes, constructs, articulation and consensus. Templates are a core component in visualizing frames of reference. Frames of reference are an important consideration in the context of corporate values as they identify the focus of the organization’s leadership.