Accounting - Research Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 10 of 11
-
ItemAltruism, social norms, and incentive contract design(SPRINGER, 2023-06)Abstract We study theoretically and empirically the relation between altruism and incentive contract design. Theoretically, we extend Fischer and Huddart (2008) to investigate how social norms reinforce managers’ altruistic preferences, thus affecting the optimal contract design related to incentive strength and performance measurement. Empirically, we draw on the notion of an organization’s work climate to capture managers’ altruistic preferences. Using data collected from a sample of 557 managers, we find that in a work climate where managers are mostly out for themselves, firms have lower pay-for-performance sensitivity and place a greater weight on aggregate performance measures. In addition, respondents report that they engage more in undesirable actions that are unproductive and costly to firm owners. In contrast, in a work climate where managers care about others (including peers in their organizational unit), firms place lower weights on aggregate performance measures. At the same time, respondents report that they supply more effort and engage less in undesirable actions.
-
ItemThe Relation between Strategy, CEO Selection, and Firm Performance(Canadian Academic Accounting Association, 2019)We examine whether a firm's strategic priorities influence its selection of a new CEO and what conditions enable such an appointment to add value to the firm. More specifically, this study investigates the value‐adding effect when prospector firms (i.e., those pursuing a prospector‐type strategy) select a CEO with high social capital. We argue that uncertainty, driven by a firm's strategy, will determine the decision to select a CEO with high social capital; such CEOs can use their networks to mitigate the uncertainty and thus can be valuable to the firm. However, prior research indicates that CEOs with high social capital can engage in behavior detrimental to firm value. To mitigate the potential for this to occur, we assess whether corporate governance can play a role in prospector firms who appoint CEOs with high social capital. Drawing on archival data of CEO successions over a 14‐year period, we find that prospector firms have greater incentives to appoint CEOs with high social capital. We also find prospector firms who appoint a CEO with high social capital improve their performance. Furthermore, the value‐adding effect of this selection choice is stronger in prospector firms with good corporate governance.
-
ItemNo Preview AvailableThe Influence of Performance Measurement on the Processual Dynamics of Strategic Change(INFORMS, 2021-01-01)We draw on a five-year longitudinal dataset to investigate the influence of performance measurement in the processual dynamics of strategic change, and particularly in enacting effective strategic change. Our model examines the role of performance measurement in driving strategy-consistent operational changes and in ensuring that desired objectives of the strategic change process are achieved. We investigate these roles for performance measurement over time and empirically document lags between changes in strategic priorities, changes in operational processes and subsequent changes in firm performance. We find that performance measurement supports the implementation of strategic change by influencing the extent to which changes to operational tasks and activities are made in response to new strategic priorities, as well as influencing the quality and impact of these operational changes, as reflected in improved contemporaneous and future firm performance.
-
ItemManager ‘Growth Mindset’ and Resource Management Practices(Elsevier, 2021)We study the relation between a manager’s growth mindset and their use of resource management practices. Growth mindset is based on implicit person theory and is an established and measurable psychological construct. It refers to a person’s deeply held beliefs about whether, in general, people can learn, develop, and change throughout their lives or whether “who they are” is relatively fixed by initial talent endowments (termed a ‘fixed mindset’). Given the demonstrated importance of a growth mindset for educational outcomes and the emerging research studying the influence of mindset on behavior within organizations, we explore whether school principals’ mindset is associated with their resource management practices. Using survey and archival data from 257 primary and secondary school principals, we find that a growth mindset is associated with greater use of budgets to explain and discuss budget variances with key constituents and as an enabler in their managerial role. Principals with a growth mindset also engage in fundraising activities and use non-financial rewards for their teachers significantly more than fixed mindset principals. We also find that the relations between a principal’s mindset and some of these practices are different depending on the school’s performance context.
-
ItemGroup Identity, Performance Transparency, and Employee Performance(American Accounting Association, 2020-09-01)Economics, social psychology, and management studies suggest that group identity plays an important role in directing employee behaviors. On the one hand, strong group identity could motivate high effort by resolving conflicts of interests in the workplace. On the other hand, it could encourage conformity towards group norms. We examine whether the effect of group identity is conditional on managers' performance reporting choices. Drawing on survey and archival data from a field site, we find that when performance transparency is low, the interest alignment effect is more salient and group identity positively relates to employee performance. However, when performance transparency is high, the conformity effect is more salient and higher group identity is associated with more homogeneous, but not necessarily higher, employee performance. Our findings contribute to the management control literature by documenting that managers' performance reporting choices determine whether group identity has positive effects on employee performance.
-
ItemExpertise and Discretionary Bonus Decisions(INFORMS, 2020-01-01)We examine the association between managers’ expertise and their discretionary bonus decisions in a hospital setting. We hypothesize that high-expertise managers make decisions that encourage cooperation among their subordinates. However, low-expertise managers cannot do so because their lower levels of knowledge, experience, and domain expertise prevent them from having sufficient personal influence to persuade other professionals to cooperate. We find that high-expertise managers make two types of bonus decisions: (1) keep a smaller share of the bonus pool than what they are entitled to retain and (2) allocate the remainder to subordinates more evenly after adjusting for the underlying heterogeneity in their productivity. We also find evidence that high-expertise managers whose bonus decisions reflect their support for cooperation have higher department performance than all other managers.
-
ItemLeadership and control system design(ELSEVIER, 2010-03)
-
ItemA multi-method approach to building causal performance maps from expert knowledge(Elsevier BV, 2005-06-01)
-
ItemAccounting and Control in Health Care: Behavioural, Organisational, Sociological and Critical Perspectives(ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, 2007)
-
ItemPower, organization design and managerial behaviour(PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD, 2004-04-01)