IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/aosoci/v53y2016icp1-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Motivating revisions of management accounting systems: An examination of organizational goals and accounting feedback

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas, Tyler F.

Abstract

Successful revisions of management accounting systems (MAS) require substantial effort, and it has been suggested that providing feedback about the success of short-run MAS changes can motivate continued change efforts. Based on psychology theories of goal priming, I predict that such feedback can either increase or decrease continued effort, depending on whether it activates a high-level goal (i.e., an overarching long-term project goal) in individuals' minds. Activation of a high-level goal via a slogan in an accounting report leads participants in my experiment to interpret feedback in terms of their commitment to the goal, and thus to exert more effort toward MAS revision after success than failure. In the absence of high-level goal activation, however, participants interpret feedback in terms of whether sufficient progress has yet been made, and thus they exert more effort after failure than success. These findings not only provide insight into the effects of accounting feedback on individual effort; they also expand our understanding of the effects of accounting-report design by providing evidence of motivational effects in addition to the cognitive effects addressed in prior studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas, Tyler F., 2016. "Motivating revisions of management accounting systems: An examination of organizational goals and accounting feedback," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 1-16.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:53:y:2016:i:c:p:1-16
    DOI: 10.1016/j.aos.2016.07.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361368216300630
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.aos.2016.07.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Margaret A. Abernethy & Jan Bouwens, 2005. "Determinants of accounting innovation implementation," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 41(3), pages 217-240, October.
    2. Eldenburg, Leslie & Soderstrom, Naomi & Willis, Veronda & Wu, Anne, 2010. "Behavioral changes following the collaborative development of an accounting information system," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 222-237, February.
    3. Ayelet Fishbach & Ravi Dhar, 2005. "Goals as Excuses or Guides: The Liberating Effect of Perceived Goal Progress on Choice," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(3), pages 370-377, December.
    4. Thornberry, Neal, 1997. "A view about 'vision'," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 28-34, February.
    5. Wouters, Marc, 2009. "A developmental approach to performance measures--Results from a longitudinal case study," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 64-78, February.
    6. Shantz, Amanda & Latham, Gary P., 2009. "An exploratory field experiment of the effect of subconscious and conscious goals on employee performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 109(1), pages 9-17, May.
    7. Tamara A. Lambert & Christopher P. Agoglia, 2011. "Closing the Loop: Review Process Factors Affecting Audit Staff Follow‐Through," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5), pages 1275-1306, December.
    8. Cardinaels, Eddy, 2008. "The interplay between cost accounting knowledge and presentation formats in cost-based decision-making," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 582-602, August.
    9. Shana M. Clor†Proell & Chad A. Proell & Terry D. Warfield, 2014. "The Effects of Presentation Salience and Measurement Subjectivity on Nonprofessional Investors' Fair Value Judgments," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 45-66, March.
    10. Robert Bloomfield & Frank Hodge & Patrick Hopkins & Kristina Rennekamp, 2015. "Does Coordinated Presentation Help Credit Analysts Identify Firm Characteristics?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(2), pages 507-527, June.
    11. ,, 2000. "Problems And Solutions," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 287-299, April.
    12. Hans-Theo Normann & Till Requate & Israel Waichman, 2014. "Do short-term laboratory experiments provide valid descriptions of long-term economic interactions? A study of Cournot markets," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 17(3), pages 371-390, September.
    13. Wouters, Marc & Wilderom, Celeste, 2008. "Developing performance-measurement systems as enabling formalization: A longitudinal field study of a logistics department," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(4-5), pages 488-516.
    14. Shana Clor‐Proell & Mark W. Nelson, 2007. "Accounting Standards, Implementation Guidance, and Example‐Based Reasoning," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(4), pages 699-730, September.
    15. Marc Wouters & Diana Roijmans, 2011. "Using Prototypes to Induce Experimentation and Knowledge Integration in the Development of Enabling Accounting Information," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(2), pages 708-736, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Victor Jiménez & Paulo Afonso & Gabriela Fernandes, 2020. "Using Agile Project Management in the Design and Implementation of Activity-Based Costing Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-23, December.
    2. Petra Nieken & Anna Ressi, 2022. "Which Peer Group to Choose? The Effects of Relative Performance Information on Employee Self-Selection and Performance," CESifo Working Paper Series 9940, CESifo.
    3. Deore, Aishwarrya & Mahlendorf, Matthias D. & Wu, Fan, 2023. "CEOs' structural power, prestige power, and target ratcheting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    4. Smith, Steven D. & Thomas, Tyler F., 2024. "The effects of strategic alignment and strategic clarity on multidimensional task performance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    5. Andrejkow, Joanna & Berger, Leslie & Guo, Lan, 2022. "Conscious and nonconscious goal pursuit in multidimensional tasks," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    6. Kwee Keong Choong & Sardar M. Islam, 2020. "A new approach to performance measurement using standards: a case of translating strategy to operations," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 137-170, December.
    7. Lisa-Marie Wibbeke & Maik Lachmann, 2020. "Psychology in management accounting and control research: an overview of the recent literature," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 275-328, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giovannoni, Elena & Quarchioni, Sonia, 2019. "Exploring the generative power of performance measurement systems design," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 211-225.
    2. E. Van Der Hauwaert & W. Bruggeman, 2012. "The balanced scorecard as an enabling technology – the role of participation," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 12/816, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    3. Bisbe, Josep & Kruis, Anne-Marie & Madini, Paola, 2019. "Coercive, enabling, diagnostic, and interactive control: Untangling the threads of their connections," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 124-144.
    4. Paula M. G. Veen-Dirks & Marijke C. Leliveld & Wesley Kaufmann, 2021. "The effect of enabling versus coercive performance measurement systems on procedural fairness and red tape," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 269-294, June.
    5. Cristiano Busco & Ariela Caglio & Robert Scapens, 2015. "Management and accounting innovations: reflecting on what they are and why they are adopted," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(3), pages 495-524, August.
    6. Leanne Johnstone, 2019. "Theorising and conceptualising the sustainability control system for effective sustainability management," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 25-64, April.
    7. Anja Heinicke, 2018. "Performance measurement systems in small and medium-sized enterprises and family firms: a systematic literature review," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 28(4), pages 457-502, February.
    8. Robbins, Geraldine & Lapsley, Irvine, 2015. "From secrecy to transparency: Accounting and the transition from religious charity to publicly-owned hospital," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 19-32.
    9. Rosanna Spanò & Adele Caldarelli & Luca Ferri & Marco Maffei, 2020. "Context, culture and control: a case study on accounting change in an Italian regional health service," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(1), pages 229-272, March.
    10. Koonce, Lisa & Mongold, Cassie & Quaid, Laura & White, Brian J., 2024. "Experimental research on standard-setting issues in financial reporting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    11. Francesco Capalbo & Adelaide Ippolito & Margherita Smarra & Marco Sorrentino, 2023. "Il ruolo strategico dei Sistemi di Misurazione delle Performance nelle aziende sanitarie. Un caso studio," MANAGEMENT CONTROL, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2023(1), pages 119-142.
    12. Palermo, Tommaso & Power, Michael & Ashby, Simon, 2022. "How accounting ends: self-undermining repetition in accounting lifecycles," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 115278, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Benjamin Benoit, 2014. "Is there a manager in the plane ? The remarquable absence of the manager in enabling control [Y a-t-il un manager dans l'avion ? Ou la relative absence du manager dans les approches capacitantes du," Post-Print hal-01899013, HAL.
    14. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2017. "The expressive role of performance measurement systems: A field study of a mental health development project," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 60-75.
    15. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2013. "Performance measurement, modes of evaluation and the development of compromising accounts," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 51294, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Lukka, Kari & Becker, Albrecht, 2023. "The future of critical interdisciplinary accounting research: Performative ontology and critical interventionist research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    17. Sitzmann, Traci & Bell, Bradford S., 2017. "The dynamic effects of subconscious goal pursuit on resource allocation, task performance, and goal abandonment," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 1-14.
    18. Pilonato, Silvia & Monfardini, Patrizio, 2020. "Performance measurement systems in higher education: How levers of control reveal the ambiguities of reforms," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(3).
    19. Natalie Buckmaster, 2018. "The crafting of budgets by accountants with users for enhanced acceptance in public healthcare," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 43(2), pages 183-202, May.
    20. Masquefa, Bertrand & Gallhofer, Sonja & Haslam, Jim, 2017. "Developing appreciation of micro-organizational processes of accounting change and indicating pathways to more ‘Enabling Accounting’ in a micro-organizational domain of research and development," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 59-82.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:53:y:2016:i:c:p:1-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/aos .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.