Heinemann Power Bases and Informational Influence Strategies

A Behavioral Study on the Use of Management Accounting Information
1. Auflage 2008
ISBN: 978-3-8349-9635-0
Verlag: Betriebswirtschaftlicher Verlag Gabler
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 257 Seiten, Web PDF

Reihe: Research in Management Accounting & Control

Management accounting information serves as a primary information source for managers and is a powerful resource for strategic decision-making and influence processes on all organizational levels.

Patrick Heinemann combines and extends the research on power and influence from social psychology with insights from scholarly works on the use of information. He derives hypotheses on the relationships between influence strategies based on management accounting information, influence outcomes, and various moderating variables. In a sample of top-level managers of a large German utility provider, the author tests these theoretical relationships using the Partial Least Squares approach to structural equation modeling. The results highlight the importance of understanding power relationships in organizations and the ways in which management accounting information can be used for successfully influencing subordinates.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Heinemann, Patrick

Weitere Mitwirkende

Schäffer, Prof. Dr. Utz

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Social Influence and Power.- Developing the Causal Model.- Methodological Conception.- Empirical Results.- Discussion.- Conclusion.

Leseproben

E Empirical Results (p. 141)

1. Descriptive Statistics

Types of Management Accounting Information Used for Influencing Subordinates Studies on the use of information vary significantly regarding the specificity of information examined. Some studies analyze the use of information in (functional) fields such as marketing, management accounting, or public policy.605 They typically do not specify the types of information used for particular purposes such as decision-making or influencing subordinates.

In contrast, other studies on the use of information focus directly on specific types of information arguing that they are especially relevant to the respective research context. For instance, they focus on the use of cost accounting, performance measurement, or budgetary information.

This study follows the first approach. It employs a broad definition of management accounting systems, which include types of MAI that are conventionally regarded as outside the domain of this information system. To gain a deeper understanding of the types of MAI that are used by managers for their work in general and for influencing subordinates in particular, internal reporting sheets of ABC were reviewed that tem.

The document analysis in research phase one allowed predefining answer categories in the questionnaire for 19 types of MAI provided to managers. The corresponding questions asked respondents about the frequency with which the specified types of MAI are used at ABC. Answer categories for each type of MAI ranged from 1 results.

In order to analyze potential differences between the means, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (WSR), a nonparametric alternative to a paired samples t-test was conducted. In a subsequent step, as there is no empirical evidence on the types of MAI used for influencing subordinates, respondents were asked about the degree to which their direct supervisors use the specified types of MAI to exercise downward influence. Again, the WSR was used to analyze differences between the means, the results of which are shown in the right-hand column of Table 27.

Similar to the above results, supervisors were indicated to most frequently use budgeting and quarterly report information to influence subordinates, followed by performance measurement, annual statement, as well as contribution margin information. Customer life cycle costing and production planning and control information are the least employed to exercise downward influence.

Types of Informational Influence Strategy Employed to Influence Subordinates

The above analysis about the types of MAI used by supervisors for influencing subordinates does not allow drawing conclusions about the purposes of information use, i.e., it does not allow answering whether supervisors use UEA or UEP to influence subordinates. The degree to which supervisors employ UEA or UEP was accordingly assessed. Differences between the means were again compared using the WSR. Results indicate that supervisors on both hierarchy levels use UEA significantly more than UEP (p 0.05).

2. Causal Model Results

The causal research model and respective propositions were subsequently tested using the PLS approach to SEM as specified in chapter D4.3. Following these specifications, the PLS assessment includes two steps: In the first step, the measurement models of the LVs are evaluated. In the second step, the structural model is tested.

Über Autor(innen)

Dr. Patrick Heinemann promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Utz Schäffer am Lehrstuhl für Controlling der European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel. Er ist bei einer führenden internationalen Strategieberatung im Bereich Restrukturierung und Corporate Finance tätig.