Lean thinking is rapidly becoming the dominant paradigm in manufacturing. Kennedy and Widener (2008) use a case study to develop a lean environment model that illustrates the importance of lean accounting practices. We build on this work using a congruence model of organizational design (Nadler...

The purpose of this paper is to use the levers of control framework to explore the antecedents of control systems - various facets of strategy that drive the use of controls, and to explore the costs and benefits of the control system - costs in terms of consumption of a constrained resource...

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...

One of the main themes in the current management control literature is the study of ‘systems' of control practices. While several studies have examined pairwise complementarities in control practices to investigate whether a control system exists, a system may also be comprised of a...

Both control and creativity are important drivers of organizational success. However, often they are regarded as conflicting organizational aspects with differing aims. We use the Levers of Control (LoC) framework to examine the relationships between a system of controls, empowerment, and...

Economic theory suggests that there are complementarities between the various components of a firm's organizational design (Milgrom and Roberts (1992)). With the exception of Nagar (2002) which examines the joint determination of two components of the management control system, incentive...

Goal congruence is the desired outcome of an effective management control system. Empirical research, though, often assumes the existence of goal congruence and instead attempts to establish relations between control and firm (or employee) performance. In a research setting where the firm does...

While literature is clear on the relationship between results control, incentives, and extrinsic motivation, there is little evidence on how (or whether) management controls are associated with intrinsic motivation. The purpose of this study is to provide evidence on this relationship since...

The importance of ethical behavior in organizations is undeniable. This study examines how management control systems can facilitate ethical behaviors and an ethical work climate. We examine the intensity of use of an ethical control system and, hence, our focus is on the system's content. We...

Allowing business unit (BU) managers to influence the design of their performance measurement system (PMS) is generally thought to be beneficial. It increases user satisfaction, improves system quality, and ensures consideration of managers’ functional expertise. However, we argue that giving...