This research studies under what conditions can the creation of an organization’s raison d’être (corporate purpose) be, or not, a relevant instrument for institutional maintenance work in a context of institutional disruption. It bridges both literature on institutional maintenance work and corporate purpose. Through a single case study of a European airline trying to build its raison d’être under the pressure of climate change activists and Covid-19 crisis, we show that a raison d’être is a useful tool for organization that want to protect itself from new institutional disruptions. However, the process of building a raison d’être is particularly difficult for legacy organizations, especially when they have unclear governance or are not used to work on topics far for operational realities. But under the right conditions (employees’ involvement, CEO’s support, strategic ambitions), a raison d'être can be used as an instrument to build the very first steps of an institutional maintenance work based on discourses.
