This paper discusses several conceptual and empirical issues related to understanding combinations of management control (MC) practices. First, the paper clarifies the meaning of the two main perspectives for investigating MC combinations – MC packages and MC systems. Second, the paper considers how researchers can improve theory development concerning the effects of MC combinations by explicating the causal mechanisms through which they arise. Third, the paper discusses whether loose coupling provides an informative perspective for understanding MC combinations, particularly in relation to how organizations adapt MC practices to contextual changes. Finally, the paper comments on the main empirical approaches for investigating MC combinations. Recent studies, especially those in this special issue, are drawn upon to illustrate how these issues relate to MC research.

This study examines management control (MC) combinations that are effective in different strategic contexts through two related approaches – MC as a package and MC as a system. First, this study identifies how a set of MC practices combine (i.e. MC packages) to achieve effective control outcomes for firms operating in defender and prospector strategic contexts by applying fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Using data from a survey of top managers the analysis reveals that there are multiple ways by which firms can effectively combine MC practices in a given strategic context. Furthermore, the analysis shows that not all MC practices found to be relevant in isolation are relevant when examined simultaneously as a package. Second, based on a comparison of effective MC packages this study examines interdependencies between MC practices (i.e. MC systems). Results show that in defender firms a diagnostic control use of accounting and mechanistic structural controls act as complements, while mechanistic structural controls and measure diversity act as substitutes. In prospector firms an interactive control use of accounting and organic structural controls are found to have complementary effects. These results indicate that the effectiveness of accounting control and structural control choices are determined not only by their fit with strategic context but also by how they fit with each other. This study also demonstrates how an understanding of MC packages can provide guidance for theory development and empirical analysis of MC systems.

This study explores the decision-facilitating role of performance measurement systems (PMSs) in firms attempting to translate competence ambidexterity (i.e., the simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation) into innovation ambidexterity outcomes (i.e., the achievement of both radical and incremental innovations). Drawing on paradox and organisational conflict literature, this study emphasises the role of cognitive conflict, generated by PMSs, in shaping the relationships between competence ambidexterity and innovation ambidexterity. Based on survey data from a sample of 90 Irish firms, our findings indicate that competence ambidexterity is associated with (a) the choice to have a balanced set of performance measures, and (b) the use of PMSs for frequent and intensive debate between top managers. Furthermore, the study reveals that these choices are interdependent, as they function as complements in generating cognitive conflict, which in turn drives the realisation of innovation ambidexterity outcomes. The results also show that cognitive conflict is not directly associated with the development of competence ambidexterity, but is instead generated through the conjoint action of a balanced PMS design and the use of PMSs for intensive debate. Overall, this study demonstrates the interdependent nature of choices concerning the design and use of PMSs, and the significant role of PMSs as generators of cognitive conflict in firms attempting to achieve ambidexterity.

Prior research has shown that that management control practices change in response to global crises, yet we have little understanding of the behavioral consequences of these changes. The purpose of this study is to explore the behavioral effects that stem from crisis-induced changes to management control practices and the factors that intensify or diminish these effects. Using survey data from business unit managers in the Netherlands, our results show that firms tighten their budget controls in response to a negative impact of Covid-19. In turn, the tightening of budget controls is positively associated with employees' emotional exhaustion because of increased perceptions of role ambiguity and role conflict. We furthermore find that the effect of tighter budget controls on role ambiguity is mitigated when managers perceive that the budget controls are used in an enabling way prior to the crisis but heightened with increased trust in senior management. These results suggest that if firms use their budgets to help managers acquire a deeper understanding of their tasks and responsibilities, they are better able to respond to a negative shock and the accompanying tightening of budget controls, which helps mitigate the undesired behavioral response of increased role ambiguity and emotional exhaustion. Our findings also suggest that trust, which usually is beneficial to organizations, has a ‘dark’ side in that managers will push themselves harder to reciprocate the trust they have in their senior managers, which exacerbates the effect of tighter budget controls on role ambiguity and, in turn, emotional exhaustion.

This study examines the influence of cultural regions on the interdependence between delegation of authority and other management control (MC) practices. In particular, we assess whether one of the central contentions of agency theory, that incentive contracting and delegation are jointly determined, holds in different cultural regions. Drawing on prior literature, we hypothesise that the MC practices that operate as a complement to delegation vary depending on societal values and preferences, and that MC practices other than incentive contracting will complement delegation in firms in non-Anglo cultural regions. Using data collected from 584 strategic business units across three Western cultural regions (Anglo, Germanic, Nordic), our results show that the interdependence between delegation and incentive contracting is confined to Anglo firms. In the Nordic and Germanic regions, we find that strategic and action planning participation operate as a complement to delegation, while delegation is also complemented by manager selection in Nordic firms. Overall, our study demonstrates that cultural values and preferences significantly influence MC interdependence, and suggests that caution needs to be taken in making cross-cultural generalisations about the complementarity of MC practices.