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Synthesizing enterprise data to strategically align performance: The intentionality of strategy surrogation

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  • Reinking, Jeff
  • Arnold, Vicky
  • Sutton, Steve G.

Abstract

Strategic performance measurement systems (SPMS) are employed by senior management as a means of translating strategy into performance measures. Recent research suggests that this translation can lead managers to focus on personal performance measures as opposed to overall organizational strategy—a phenomenon referred to as strategy surrogation. Emerging technologies are increasingly used to operationalize SPMS via smart phone/tablet/laptop formats that inherently promote the use of small subsets of performance measures and have the potential to exacerbate strategy surrogation effects. This study explores executive managers' motivations in deploying dashboards and the resulting effect on operational managers' focus on associated performance measures. An exploratory cross-sectional field study is conducted with 27 executive to mid-level managers to establish a theoretical model explaining how and why organizations deploy dashboards and why managers use dashboards to facilitate their activities and decisions. Despite concerns over the propensity of managers to focus on performance measures and lose sight of strategic objectives (i.e. strategy surrogation), the interview data indicate that executive management intentionally designs dashboards to achieve strategy surrogation. The impact of this intentional surrogation appears to arise through operational managers' beliefs that dashboard measures align with organizational strategy and lead to improved managerial and organizational performance. However, this relationship between perceived alignment of performance measures and managerial and organizational performance is mediated by dashboard quality and information quality. These findings have important implications as the effects of SPMS on strategy surrogation are further explored by researchers, and as system designers consider the side effects of emerging technologies on effective strategic performance measurement.

Suggested Citation

  • Reinking, Jeff & Arnold, Vicky & Sutton, Steve G., 2020. "Synthesizing enterprise data to strategically align performance: The intentionality of strategy surrogation," International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ijoais:v:36:y:2020:i:c:s1467089518300897
    DOI: 10.1016/j.accinf.2019.100444
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