Hi Kate
I have not considered any research in this area but what I can say from experience is that it does make a difference by creating a converged and aligned expectation of behaviours. It is a reinforced message to the workforce of the implicit rules of behaviour.
The negative outcomes that you mention are not due to improper implementation but rather on a lack of trust in the leadership which actually weakens the intended impact of the communicated behaviours.
Hope this helps to some extent.
Cheers
Reena

Hi Kate, it does makes a difference, gradually .. for instance, we've got values pasted on walls but it was only last year (2018) that we decided to carry out a deliberate campaign to sink such into the subconsciousness of employees. One key thing that we are keen on is Compliance and people are beginning to ask question to ensure that they are doing the right thing. We are encouraging staff to look at the other values and leave up to them.

The academic research in this field is patchy and the results often contradictory or counter-intuitive. This is because very few companies are prepared to participate in a double-blind research study - particularly if they might be the control group!

What evidence there is often comes from other areas. Freakonomics recently did an episode about the impact of religiosity on economic success (freakonomics.com/.../), which is related to the question of values and behaviours. They also did a piece on the impact of CSR policies which is worth reading, as it doesn't always add up to what you'd expect it to add up to.

By and large, the application of values and behaviours in the corporate environment is driven by a mixture of anecdotal evidence and me-too-ism. Big Successful Company does it and becomes Bigger More Successful Company and correlation is assumed to be causation. However, there are plenty of Big Successful Companies whose growth is driven by market trends and the simple luck of being in the right place at the right time (*cough*Facebook*cough*).

Values and behaviours don't make companies successful. Successful companies adopt values and behaviours because they make successful companies easier to manage and, thus, allow the leaders of said companies to enjoy the fruits of their success in more leisurely style.