Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to propose a behavioral theory of organizational vision. Design/methodology/approach - Based on existing theoretical concepts and empirical evidence, this new theory development compares a diverse set of plausible logical, empirical, and/or epistemological conjectures so that highlighting occurs to form the substance of the new vision theory. Findings - The approach takes the form of an emerging vision theory, which explains how vision attributes create an impact on organizational performance. Originality/value - While vision is core to the prevailing vision-based leadership theories, little is theoretically and empirically known about attributes for effective vision. Moreover, there is no existing leadership theory, which explains the process by which vision attributes create positive effects on organizational performance. The paper proposes a vision theory to fill this gap. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.