Dynamic and Disaggregated Perspectives on Management Control

We know from existing research that, depending on the specific control problems encountered by an organization, managers may employ a wide range of controls to address them. It is also well-established in the literature, that an organization's combined management control practice typically encompasses a multitude of controls, and that the actual effects of these controls is contingent upon their potential interdependencies. Nevertheless, our understanding of the interdependencies between management controls remains far from exhausted. This is particularly the case with regard to our empirically informed understanding of the role of informal types of management controls, such as organizational norms and values. Moreover, while it is also well-established in the literature that control problems, and thus the perceived necessity for management controls, emerge with the establishment of an organization and persist at the heart of management in an organization throughout its lifespan, the temporal dimension of management control has received limited attention within the existing management control literature.
Building on this, the overarching argument of this Ph.D. thesis is that empirically informed research that applies disaggregated and dynamic perspectives on management control can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of management control as a theoretical and empirical phenomenon. A disaggregated perspective entails attention to the various management controls employed in an organization, along with the potential interdependencies between them. A dynamic perspective entails attention to the emergence and evolution of these management controls and their interdependencies. Anchored in this argument, this Ph.D. thesis offers empirically informed answers to the following research question: How do management controls and their interdependencies emerge and evolve within organizations? The research question is addressed through three articles, each focusing on specific yet interconnected aspects of the research question.