A critical review of the 'vision' literature

Given the criticality of vision to modern organizational leadership, the paucity of research into what makes an effective vision is surprising. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature on vision, particularly vision definitions, components, and realization factors before identifying directions for future research. These directions include looking at what the components of an “effective” vision are, identifying the attributes and content of visions associated with superior performance, as well as the ways in which such visions are communicated and realized at different levels of organizational analysis.