This study uses field data from 490 hotels in a single lodging chain to investigate three questions related to the efficiency-wage hypothesis. (1) Does paying workers higher relative wages ex ante result in better ex post actual performance, either by motivating workers to exert greater effort...

Franchising is an important form of organizational control. Possible benefits of franchising include its ability to reduce agency costs that increase with costly monitoring, and provide incentives for the use of local information by onsite managers. However, these benefits may come at a cost, as...

We examine the structure of communications in accounting research by analyzing patterns of citations among authors who have published in five major journals between 1984 and 2008. Understanding communication structures is important because they shape academic knowledge creation, which prominent...

An opportunity to study the technical and organizational impact of management accounting system changes has emerged with companies' adoption of activity-based costing (ABC). This paper provides a structured account of experimentation with, and adoption and adaptation of ABC in General Motors...

Liberalization of the Indian economy in 1991 increased the intensity of international competition and changed the internal information needs of Indian managers. This paper explores the evolution of a broad range of management accounting practices in 14 firms using a contingency theory framework....

Strategic cost management is deliberate decision-making aimed at aligning the firm's cost structure with its strategy and optimizing the enactment of the strategy. Alignment and optimization must comprehend the full value chain and all stakeholders to ensure long run sustainable profits for the...

This chapter provides practical guidance to management accounting researchers on the design and execution of field studies that use quantitative data analysis to test or build theory. We discuss common purposes for conducting field research and provide a brief overview of the accomplishments and...

In this chapter, we review the use of TCE in the study of interfirm relationships. An extensive literature in economics and business strategy delves into interfirm governance choices. In our review, we focus on accounting and non-accounting studies to assess how TCE has contributed and can...

Performance measurement systems (PMSs) are used to diagnose and remediate problems, termed the ‘decision-facilitating' or feedback role of management control. We examine whether use of PMSs by individual decision makers is associated with better performance. Experimental studies have isolated...

Transaction cost economics predicts that investments in management control will enable risky interfirm transactions. Risk is rarely eliminated, because firms trade off costs of management control and expected costs of control loss (together, the “cost of control”). The resultant solution...