Perspectives on Corporate, Social, and Employee Purpose among Investment Bankers: A Qualitative Research Study

There are increasing calls to re-establish the role and responsibility of banks towards society to repair trust and enhance financial stability. Through in-depth interviews with senior investment bankers, this study asks what bankers themselves think about the corporate (i.e. the industry’s core business), social (i.e. its moral responsibilities to wider society), and employee (i.e. bankers’ own feelings of purposefulness) purposes of the investment banking industry. Existing research tells us that there are significant reciprocal benefits to organisations, employees, and society at large when the three are aligned. The study’s findings suggest that while there have been important shifts in corporate and social purposes over time, bankers remain sceptical about their banks’ underlying motives and this has resulted in multiple disconnects. Perhaps surprising, the study finds that meaningful work that is also socially focused is something that investment bankers are seeking in some way. These insights should prompt banks to ensure that social purposes reflect and align with their corporate purposes; to move beyond rhetoric and virtue-signalling to action; and to help employees identify their contribution to it all.