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Previous studies have argued that improvement in organizational performance though change management processes is grounded in external knowledge acquisition and assimilation. However, there is ambiguity in how existing knowledge, in the form of intellectual capital (IC), is mobilized in this context. In response, this paper develops a context-based mediator model depicting the relationship between IC processes, absorptive capacity (AC) and organizational performance following the introduction of external knowledge.

A qualitative longitudinal case study approach is adopted, collecting data over three phases of a quality improvement program over a three-year period.

With the development of relational capital facilitated thorough changes in the work environment and the structured enhancement of knowledge-processing capabilities, the study identified the mediating role of AC on the relationship between IC mobilization and improved organizational performance.

Whilst there have been studies of relationships between IC and organization performance, to the best of the “authors” knowledge, this is one the few empirical studies to explore associations between IC types, existing knowledge sharing processes and IC mobilization, mediated by the AC of a firm, to exploit external knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the general failure of management accounting research to be useful for practitioners.

The paper discusses the causes and consequences of the problem, and possible remedies.

The causes of the problem, and hence also the remedies, are related to choice of topics, research design, and writing and dissemination of findings; researchers are forced into choices that lead to less useful research by the research evaluation standards used by the major accounting journals and university professor evaluation practices.

While this general problem of lack of research usefulness has been discussed at some length in other areas of management, the issue has not received much attention in the management accounting community, other than with a few calls for more field research. However, getting out into the field more to do research addresses only one part of this important failure.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of performance measurement systems (PMSs) in Indonesian local government (ILG) using Smart PLS. Couched within an institutional theory framework, it explores a conceptual model developed to explain the hypothesised relationships between technical and organisational factors and the development and use of performance indicators and accountability practices.

Surveys were sent to senior finance officers in all local governments (457) across Indonesia with a response rate of 21.4 percent being achieved. Smart PLS was used to assess the quality of the data and analyse the research model proposed.

Findings revealed that ILGs developed performance indicators more to fulfil regulatory requirements than to make their organisation more effective and efficient. As a way of increasing the success of PMS implementation management commitment through good leadership was found to be a major contributor. Coercive pressure from central government impacted on the result as did normative isomorphism by way of widespread training by universities (and others) and the subsequent sharing of this knowledge.

The findings will assist Indonesian central government formulate future government policy as well as design appropriate strategies for implementing the second wave of (bureaucratic) reform.

Set in a local government environment in a developing country, this research is original and makes three major contributions. First, it provides an understanding of factors influencing the development and use of performance measures in the ILG context. Second, the use of Smart PLS is original in this context and fills a gap in the literature examining local government PMS. Last, the existence of institutional isomorphism reaffirms that this theory is still applicable in the twenty‐first century and relevant as an explanator of the results in the context examined here.

This article has two main parts. First, the aim of the paper is to give a brief overview of the major developments in management control over the past 50 years and attempt to draw out some abiding themes that have arisen from the work that has been conducted. Second, it will examine one of the more recent issues in more detail, namely managing under conditions of uncertainty, and outline the contribution that management control systems research can make.

This is a conceptual paper.

The primary aim is to suggest areas for research that are likely to be both relevant and fruitful in the future. It represents a personal point of view, and is in no sense a comprehensive review of the literature, but rather attempts to draw out some important themes that are worthy of further study and development.

The paper will be of use to those seeking to design research studies in performance management.

The purpose of this paper is to expand on some of the points made in Ken Merchant's paper (this issue) in connection with the research‐practice gap.

Aiming to be provocative for the purpose of evoking further discussion, this commentary adopts the perspective that some deeply rooted misconceptions about the nature and production of scientific knowledge underpin the research‐practice gap.

There are three key findings. First, contrary to popular belief, practical knowledge does not simply derive from basic (“scientific”) knowledge “trickling down” to practice; instead, basic knowledge needs to be transformed into a theory or phronesis of management accounting in a manner that reflects the context and purpose of organizations. Practical knowledge therefore becomes a distinct and rigorous mode of knowing in its own right, no less important than basic knowledge. Second, the adoption of field research or the case study method may be the only way to overcome all of the dimensions associated with the “data problem” existing in management accounting. Finally, a strong argument can be made to suggest that the research‐practice gap and its epistemological underpinnings not only impede the discipline's ability to carve out its own unique intellectual identity (Malmi and Granlund), but they also explain the discipline's inability to produce a cumulative body of knowledge.

The paper suggests that a key step, among others, in addressing the researcher‐practitioner gap is the need to overcome philosophical misconceptions about the nature and production of scientific knowledge. This perspective has not received significant coverage in accounting.

The aim of this paper is to study the workings of commercial orientation, with a focus on performance management, in an environment that is characterised by limited competition between the public and the private sectors and a high level of government social responsibility.

An interpretive case study approach is adopted for this study. It draws on primary data from interviews with key personnel in public sector organisations, and on secondary data from government publications such as annual reports and budget papers.

This study shows that the market‐based performance management system has failed to achieve its intended objectives because it was introduced in a socio‐economic context that is hardly supportive of market management practices. The study shows that service delivery to the public has remained driven by social rather than economic imperatives. In the absence of other service providers, the Government's social responsibility towards its citizens has compelled service provision irrespective of the cost and reduced the cost‐benefit relationship in having informative costing systems.

Examining the workings of a market‐based performance management system in a non‐competitive setting provides evidence of the difficulty of achieving the intended benefits from the adoption of commercial practices in public sector agencies in some cases.

Whereas extant literature focuses on the adoption of business practices in the process of public sector reform, no prior study has looked at this concept in a non‐competitive market. Understanding the workings of the market practices in such an environment where contestability is limited is fundamental to policy makers and researchers.

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study of inter‐coder reliability of annual report social and environmental disclosures content analysis. Using the sentence‐based coding instruments and decision rules from Hackston and Milne (1996), this study reports the co‐agreement levels reached by three coders over five rounds of testing 49 annual reports. The study also provides a commentary on the implications of formal reliability analysis for past and future social and environmental disclosures content analyses, and the complexities of formal reliability measurement. The overall findings suggest that the coded output from inexperienced coders using the Hackston and Milne approach with little or no prior training can be relied on for aggregate total disclosures analysis. For more detailed sub‐category analysis, however, the findings suggest a period of training for the less experienced coders with at least 20 reports appears necessary before their coded output could be relied on.

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the budgeting process in a local church from a social capital perspective. The social capital provides novel insights into the construction of budgets and its social aspects. A qualitative case study was adopted, with an interpretive methodology. Semi-structured interviews were used to interview 14 managers involved in the budgeting process at a local independent church. The interview data were supplemented by documentary evidence. Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) framework of social capital was used to analyse the data. The main finding was that budgeting was found to be a social process – that can best be explained by social capital theory. There may be an element of self-selection, as the church agreed to participate in the study and chose to allow a researcher to examine social aspects of its budgeting process. The chapter contributes to both social capital theory and church literature. Social capital provides novel insights into the construction of budgets and its social aspects. In addition, contemporary budgeting practices are studied in a church in a denomination and country not previously studied.