دانلود رایگان مقاله کنترل ناهمتراز: نقش تقلید سیستم کنترل مدیریت در زنجیره های عرضه

abstract

This study investigates how interorganizational imitation influences management control decisions in a supply chain setting. Control design in interfirm exchanges is traditionally thought to be based on the principle of matching, where organizations install MCS that align with the transaction context. However, despite these theorized interrelationships, misaligned transactions commonly exist in practice. In this study, we propose a framework on the potential sources of such misalignment. We argue that control misalignment can be attributed to imitating behavior, by which organizations adopt MCS following the example of other organizations. Based on survey data collected from firms involved in a supply chain triad, we demonstrate that buyers control their upstream suppliers partially by imitating how their downstream customer controls them. Notably, buyers appear to imitate despite variations in transaction context, creating a basis for misalignment in line with our predictions.

5. Discussion and conclusions

This study sheds light on interorganizational imitation influencing MCS decisions in interfirm exchanges and supply chains in particular. The results suggest that governance studies need to consider not only how supply chain relationships can be managed using MCS, but also how these MCS are selected, with imitation evidently playing an important role.

This study contributes to previous accounting literature in several ways. Existing studies on MCS design in the supply chain are predominantly informed by TCE and explain how MCS are installed as a function of the specific transaction context. The focus on transaction attributes alone in explaining MCS decisions, however, may present an incomplete and potentially biased picture of interfirm control (Anderson & Dekker, 2015). Whereas TCE produces insights on the MCS an organization should adopt to achieve fit, it does not seem to fully explain the actual observed patterns of MCS use in current business environments, such as supply chains.

Through examining imitation effects, this study advances the TCE literature by revealing novel nuances in the context-control relationship. The connection between interfirm control choices and transaction context has been a long-standing concern of accounting scholars. Context, in general, is “expected to play an important role by restricting managerial choice and working as an efficiency filter shaping the set of practices used by an organization” (Sousa & Voss, 2008, p. 710). However, our framework proposes that other factors or behavioral processes, such as imitation, may constrain the extent to which context determines MCS use.

Another notable implication of our study is the importance of placing dyadic encounters within a larger context. Although our approach departs from the transaction-level analysis common in the TCE literature, we expand our view beyond individual dyads. Consistent with McFarland et al. (2008, p. 74), we submit that dyadic interactions are still worth studying because factors within the dyad may still directly influence the governance and outcomes of the interaction, but examining effects beyond the dyad has revealed more complex phenomena than frequently assumed. Specifically, by considering a triadic network configuration, our study provides empirical support for spill-over effects in the form of MCS imitation in the supply chain.