The Application of the Controllability Principle and Managers’ Responses: A Role Theory Perspective (Research in Management Accounting & Control)

Fischer, Franz Michael

ISBN 10: 3834922676 / ISBN 13: 9783834922670

Published by Gabler Verlag, 2010

About this Item

Seller Inventory # I-9783834922670

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Application of the Controllability Principle and Managers? Responses: A Role Theory Perspective (Research in Management Accounting & Control)
• Publisher: Gabler Verlag
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3834922676
• ISBN 13: 9783834922670
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

The starting point of Franz Fischer’s dissertation thesis is the long-established claim to hold people accountable only for what they can control. Whereas early publications take the application of the so-called controllability principle as a matter of course, subsequent works justify the principle’s application with the help of psychological or social psychological findings: The violation of the controllability principle is supposed to have negative motivational effects and thus decreases managers’ effort on the job. Recently, however, doubts have been raised about the principle’s meaningfulness. Also, empirical studies show that the principle is frequently not applied in corporate practice. In short: We do not have satisfactory knowledge about the effects of the principle’s application or nonapplication on managers’ mental models and their behavior. At the same time, we recognize that the question of whether or not to apply the principle is a major issue for management control in organizations of all sizes. In view of this, Franz Fischer’s dissertation thesis contributes to existing literature in at least three ways: First, Franz Fischer successfully adopts a role theory perspective in the investigation of cognitive, affective, and behavioral consequences of (not) applying the controllability principle in managers’ performance evaluation. Thus, he demonstrates that role theory enriches a stream of literature that has so far been dominated by motivational theories. Second, he introduces a new conceptualization and operationalization of the application of the controllability principle which depict this latent variable as a second-order construct.

About the Author

Dr. Franz Michael Fischer completed his doctoral thesis at the Chair of Management Accounting and Control at the European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel. He works in the finance and accounting department of a large car manufacturer in Munich.