Do they differ? Analysis of the use of management control proxies: Breaking the paradigms of Institutional Theory

The literature configures local productive arrangements as an institution, since actions are mimetically standardized as a result of the interaction links between members. On the other hand, it is considered that the process of managing companies is carried out by people, and the entrepreneur, when taking on management functions, tends to have some characteristic attributes that distinguish him in his decisions. This scenario led this study to verify whether the psychological characteristics of the entrepreneur are capable of influencing the management practices and performance of companies in the same institutional environment. The study addresses the psychological characteristics of entrepreneurial orientation and metacognition, while managerial practices are the formal and informal mechanisms applied to support the decision-making process. The study adopts an epistemologically positivist stance, with a quantitative approach and data collection based on structured interviews with entrepreneur-managers from 121 industries in the clothing APL in north-west Paraná.