IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/schmbr/v17y2016i1d10.1007_s41464-016-0005-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Dark Side of Tight Financial Control: Causes and Remedies of Dysfunctional Employee Behaviors

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Goebel

    (Justus Liebig University Giessen)

  • Barbara Weißenberger

    (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf)

Abstract

Following recent corporate accounting scandals and governance failures, there has been a renewed interest in dysfunctional employee behaviors as potential drawbacks of financial goal-setting. Our study therefore assesses the impact of tight financial results controls as a cause for common behavioral displacements like information manipulation or gaming behavior in combination with countervailing effects of informal controls and management accountants’ business orientation as potential remedies. Based on a cross-sectional survey among 295 large- and medium-sized companies, our results show that even though a strong emphasis on financial results controls is associated with dysfunctional behaviors, higher levels of informal means of control and a more intense business orientation of management accountants are associated with a decrease of behavioral displacements. Our paper contributes to literature in a twofold way. First, it adds to the extant management accounting and control literature by providing comprehensive insights into the interplay between tight financial controls, informal controls, and management accountants’ role-taking behaviors. Second, by using a large-scale survey design, our results reflect a broad array of organizations and control situations.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Goebel & Barbara Weißenberger, 2016. "The Dark Side of Tight Financial Control: Causes and Remedies of Dysfunctional Employee Behaviors," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 17(1), pages 69-101, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:schmbr:v:17:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s41464-016-0005-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s41464-016-0005-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41464-016-0005-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41464-016-0005-8?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. Feng, Mei & Ge, Weili & Luo, Shuqing & Shevlin, Terry, 2011. "Why do CFOs become involved in material accounting manipulations?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 21-36.
    2. Victor S. Maas & Marcel Van Rinsum, 2013. "How Control System Design Influences Performance Misreporting," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 1159-1186, December.
    3. Morela Hernandez, 2008. "Promoting Stewardship Behavior in Organizations: A Leadership Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 80(1), pages 121-128, June.
    4. Caroline Lambert & Samuel Sponem, 2005. "Corporate governance and profit manipulation: a French field study," Post-Print halshs-00170340, HAL.
    5. Canice Prendergast, 1999. "The Provision of Incentives in Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 7-63, March.
    6. Otley, David & Fakiolas, Alexander, 2000. "Reliance on accounting performance measures: dead end or new beginning?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(4-5), pages 497-510, May.
    7. Widener, Sally K., 2007. "An empirical analysis of the levers of control framework," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(7-8), pages 757-788.
    8. Jürgen Weber, 2011. "The development of controller tasks: explaining the nature of controllership and its changes," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 25-46, September.
    9. Klaus Derfuss, 2009. "The Relationship of Budgetary Participation and Reliance on Accounting Performance Measures with Individual-Level Consequent Variables: A Meta-Analysis," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 203-239.
    10. Brownell, P & Hirst, M, 1986. "Reliance On Accounting Information, Budgetary Participation, And Task Uncertainty - Tests Of A 3-Way Interaction," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 241-249.
    11. Hill, Charles W L, 1988. "Internal Capital Market Controls and Financial Performance in Multidivisional Firms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 67-83, September.
    12. Jan Bouwens & Laurence Van Lent, 2007. "Assessing the Performance of Business Unit Managers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(4), pages 667-697, September.
    13. Tenenhaus, Michel & Vinzi, Vincenzo Esposito & Chatelin, Yves-Marie & Lauro, Carlo, 2005. "PLS path modeling," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 159-205, January.
    14. William G. Ouchi, 1979. "A Conceptual Framework for the Design of Organizational Control Mechanisms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(9), pages 833-848, September.
    15. Murphy, Kevin J., 2000. "Performance standards in incentive contracts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 245-278, December.
    16. Gibbs, Michael & Merchant, Kenneth A. & Van der Stede, Wim A. & Vargus, Mark A., 2004. "Performance Measure Properties and Incentives," IZA Discussion Papers 1356, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Lex Donaldson, 2008. "Ethics Problems and Problems with Ethics: Toward a Pro-Management Theory," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 299-311, March.
    18. Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, 1985. "Control: Organizational and Economic Approaches," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(2), pages 134-149, February.
    19. Frow, Natalie & Marginson, David & Ogden, Stuart, 2010. ""Continuous" budgeting: Reconciling budget flexibility with budgetary control," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 444-461, May.
    20. Chenhall, Robert H., 2003. "Management control systems design within its organizational context: findings from contingency-based research and directions for the future," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 127-168.
    21. Hartmann, Frank & Slapnicar, Sergeja, 2009. "How formal performance evaluation affects trust between superior and subordinate managers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 722-737, August.
    22. Hall, Matthew, 2008. "The effect of comprehensive performance measurement systems on role clarity, psychological empowerment and managerial performance," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(2-3), pages 141-163.
    23. repec:dau:papers:123456789/1373 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    25. Van der Stede, Wim A., 2000. "The relationship between two consequences of budgetary controls: budgetary slack creation and managerial short-term orientation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 609-622, August.
    26. John Hulland, 1999. "Use of partial least squares (PLS) in strategic management research: a review of four recent studies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(2), pages 195-204, February.
    27. ., 2005. "Accounting, Finance and the Firm," Chapters, in: Corporate Governance Adrift, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    28. Jaworski, Bernard J. & Young, S. Mark, 1992. "Dysfunctional behavior and management control: An empirical study of marketing managers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 17-35, January.
    29. Prabhu Sivabalan & Peter Booth & Teemu Malmi & David A. Brown, 2009. "An exploratory study of operational reasons to budget," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 49(4), pages 849-871, December.
    30. Davila, Tony & Wouters, Marc, 2005. "Managing budget emphasis through the explicit design of conditional budgetary slack," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(7-8), pages 587-608.
    31. Van der Stede, Wim A. & Young, S. Mark & Chen, Clara Xiaoling, 2005. "Assessing the quality of evidence in empirical management accounting research: The case of survey studies," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(7-8), pages 655-684.
    32. Harrison, Graeme L., 1993. "Reliance on accounting performance measures in superior evaluative style -- The influence of national culture and personality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 319-339, May.
    33. Merchant, Kenneth A., 1990. "The effects of financial controls on data manipulation and management Myopia," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 297-313.
    34. Frank Hartmann, 2005. "The effects of tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty on the appropriateness of accounting performance measures," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 41(3), pages 241-264, October.
    35. Hartmann, Frank G. H., 2000. "The appropriateness of RAPM: toward the further development of theory," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 25(4-5), pages 451-482, May.
    36. Jan Noeverman & Bas A.S. Koene & Roger Williams, 2005. "Construct measurement of evaluative style: a review and proposal," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 2(1), pages 77-107, April.
    37. Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "Corporate Governance for Crooks? The Case for Corporate Virtue," IEW - Working Papers 164, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    38. ., 2005. "Utility Finance and Accounting Challenges," Chapters, in: Public Utilities, chapter 10, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    39. Michael Kosfeld & Armin Falk, 2006. "The Hidden Costs of Control," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1611-1630, December.
    40. Adam Barsky, 2008. "Understanding the Ethical Cost of Organizational Goal-Setting: A Review and Theory Development," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 81(1), pages 63-81, August.
    41. Michael C. Jensen, 2003. "Paying People to Lie: the Truth about the Budgeting Process," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 9(3), pages 379-406, September.
    42. Kathy Dean & Jeri Beggs & Timothy Keane, 2010. "Mid-level Managers, Organizational Context, and (Un)ethical Encounters," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 97(1), pages 51-69, November.
    43. Katja Rost & Margit Osterloh, 2009. "Management Fashion Pay-for-Performance for CEOs," Schmalenbach Business Review (sbr), LMU Munich School of Management, vol. 61(2), pages 119-149, April.
    44. Jennifer Kunz & Stefan Linder, 2012. "Organizational Control and Work Effort -- Another Look at the Interplay of Rewards and Motivation," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 591-621, March.
    45. Frank Hartmann & David Naranjo-Gil & Paolo Perego, 2010. "The Effects of Leadership Styles and Use of Performance Measures on Managerial Work-Related Attitudes," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(2), pages 275-310.
    46. Frank G.H. Hartmann & Victor S. Maas, 2011. "The effects of uncertainty on the roles of controllers and budgets: an exploratory study," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(5), pages 439-458, December.
    47. Chow, Chee W. & Kato, Yutaka & Merchant, Kenneth A., 1996. "The use of organizational controls and their effects on data manipulation and management myopia: A Japan vs U.S. comparison," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 175-192.
    48. Mayer, David M. & Kuenzi, Maribeth & Greenbaum, Rebecca & Bardes, Mary & Salvador, Rommel (Bombie), 2009. "How low does ethical leadership flow? Test of a trickle-down model," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 108(1), pages 1-13, January.
    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. MF. Arrozi Adhikara & Maslichah & Nur Diana & M. Basjir, 2022. "Organizational Performance in Environmental Uncertainty on the Indonesian Healthcare Industry: A Path Analysis," Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, Richtmann Publishing Ltd, vol. 11, March.
    2. Robert Rieg, 2018. "Tasks, interaction and role perception of management accountants: evidence from Germany," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 183-220, August.
    3. Laura Graf & Wiebke S. Wendler & Jutta Stumpf-Wollersheim & Isabell M. Welpe, 2019. "Wanting More, Getting Less: Gaming Performance Measurement as a Form of Deviant Workplace Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 753-773, July.
    4. Christian Jung-Gehling & Erik Strauss, 2018. "A Contemporary Concept of Organizational Control: Its Dependence on Shared Values and Impact on Motivation," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 70(4), pages 341-374, November.
    5. Tabea Franziska Hirth-Goebel & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2019. "Management accountants and ethical dilemmas: How to promote ethical intention?," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 287-322, October.

    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. Sebastian Goebel & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2017. "Effects of management control mechanisms: towards a more comprehensive analysis," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(2), pages 185-219, February.
    2. Sebastian Goebel & Barbara E. Weißenberger, 2017. "The Relationship Between Informal Controls, Ethical Work Climates, and Organizational Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 505-528, March.
    3. Klaus Derfuss, 2015. "Relating Context Variables to Participative Budgeting and Evaluative Use of Performance Measures: A Meta-analysis," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 51(2), pages 238-278, June.
    4. Nitzl, Christian, 2016. "The use of partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) in management accounting research: Directions for future theory development," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 19-35.
    5. Derfuss, Klaus, 2016. "Reconsidering the participative budgeting–performance relation: A meta-analysis regarding the impact of level of analysis, sample selection, measurement, and industry influences," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 17-37.
    6. Christian Kleine & Barbara Weißenberger, 2014. "Leadership impact on organizational commitment: the mediating role of management control systems choice," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 241-266, January.
    7. Cäker, Mikael & Siverbo, Sven, 2018. "Effects of performance measurement system inconsistency on managers’ role clarity and well-being," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 256-266.
    8. Bellora-Bienengräber, Lucia & Radtke, Robin R. & Widener, Sally K., 2022. "Counterproductive work behaviors and work climate: The role of an ethically focused management control system and peers’ self-focused behavior," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    9. Bhimani, Alnoor & Sivabalan, Prabhu & Soonawalla, Kazbi, 2018. "A study of the linkages between rolling budget forms, uncertainty and strategy," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 306-323.
    10. Iryna Alves & Sofia M. Lourenço, 2022. "The use of non-financial performance measures for managerial compensation: evidence from SMEs," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 151-187, June.
    11. Ellen Haustein & Robert Luther & Peter Schuster, 2014. "Management control systems in innovation companies: a literature based framework," Metrika: International Journal for Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 343-382, February.
    12. Fukushima, Kazunori & Yamada, Akihiro, 2024. "Does budget target setting lead managers to engage in unethical behavior for the organization?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(4).
    13. Mareike Bergmann & Christian Brück & Thorsten Knauer & Anja Schwering, 2020. "Digitization of the budgeting process: determinants of the use of business analytics and its effect on satisfaction with the budgeting process," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 25-54, April.
    14. Juan Manuel Ramon-Jeronimo & Raquel Florez-Lopez & Pedro Araujo-Pinzon, 2019. "Resource-Based View and SMEs Performance Exporting through Foreign Intermediaries: The Mediating Effect of Management Controls," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-26, June.
    15. Jan Noeverman & Bas A.S. Koene & Roger Williams, 2005. "Construct measurement of evaluative style: a review and proposal," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 2(1), pages 77-107, April.
    16. Christina Boedker & Kar Ming Chong, 2022. "The mediating role of accounting controls between supervisors' empowering leadership style and subordinates' creativity and goal productivity," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4587-4614, December.
    17. 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.
    18. Christian Nitzl & Wynne W. Chin, 2017. "The case of partial least squares (PLS) path modeling in managerial accounting research," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 137-156, May.
    19. Noeverman, J. & Koene, B.A.S., 2010. "Contextual Influences on Evaluative Style and its Effectiveness: Three Avenues for Future Research," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2010-047-ORG, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    20. Greve, Jan & Ax, Christian & Bedford, David S. & Bednarek, Piotr & Brühl, Rolf & Dergård, Johan & Ditillo, Angelo & Dossi, Andrea & Gosselin, Maurice & Hoozée, Sophie & Israelsen, Poul & Janschek, Ott, 2017. "The impact of society on management control systems," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 253-266.

    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:spr:schmbr:v:17:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1007_s41464-016-0005-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.