Performance on the right hand side: Organizational performance as an antecedent to management control
Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management
ISSN: 1176-6093
Article publication date: 18 November 2013
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide insights into how organizational performance in a prior period may influence the nature of control subsequently used by senior not-for-profit (NFP) managers.
Design/methodology/approach
This investigation is based on data collected from semi-structured interviews of CEOs and senior executives in 32 Australian NFPs.
Findings
Although performance has a considerable influence on the subsequent use of control, the findings point to a broad conceptualisation of performance as it is perceived to apply within a NFP context. Moreover, the roles of formal management control systems and informal control are quite distinct, with the latter predominating in responding to prior performance.
Originality/value
Despite recognition in the management accounting literature of the likely influence of organizational performance in previous periods on control, empirical studies investigating organizational performance as an antecedent to the use of control have been surprisingly limited. The current study directly responds to this gap in our knowledge, and also, to prior calls for the need for more management control research into the NFP sector. This contribution is important in view of the considerable economic and social impact of this sector in most Western economies, coupled with the increasing recognition of the importance of both performance and control within this sector.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support provided by CPA (Australia), and the Institute of Public Administration Australia/University of Canberra Public Administration Research Trust Fund for their generosity in providing partial financial support for this research. This paper has also benefited from constructive comments from those who attended the Asian Pacific Interdisciplinary Research in Accounting Conference (APIRA) in Sydney (July, 2010), the Management Control Association Workshop in Portsmouth (May, 2010), research seminars at the International Graduate School of Business, and School of Commerce, University of South Australia (May and October 2008), and the Department of Accounting and Business Information Systems University of Melbourne (March, 2009). In addition, we thank Maggie Abernethy, Kim Langfield-Smith, Anne Lillis, James Guthrie, David Otley, Lee Parker, and Dennis Taylor for their valuable comments and suggestions on previous versions of the paper.
Citation
Tucker, B. and Thorne, H. (2013), "Performance on the right hand side: Organizational performance as an antecedent to management control", Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Vol. 10 No. 3/4, pp. 316-346. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRAM-10-2012-0043
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited