IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/aosoci/v35y2010i8p737-756.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social capital and management control systems: A study of a non-government organization

Author

Listed:
  • Chenhall, Robert H.
  • Hall, Matthew
  • Smith, David

Abstract

In this paper we use the concept of social capital to outline a distinctive approach to understanding the interplay between management control systems and the development of social connections in and between organisations. Social capital provides a comprehensive framework for examining the nature of social connections through its focus on both structural networks (bridging) and interpersonal relationships that predispose individuals towards mutually beneficial collective action (bonding). In doing so, social capital provides a means of considering how individuals react to management control systems in terms of the social ties that exist both within the organization and external to the organization. Using a case study of a non-government organization, we show how social capital is implicated in efforts to attract economic capital and cultural capital. We demonstrate how elements of a management control system can either enhance or inhibit the bonding and bridging dimensions of social capital with potential consequences on both economic and cultural capital. We highlight the mixed and sometimes contradictory effects of management control systems on social capital, and provide a powerful illustration of the role of management control systems in brokering alliances and bridging structural holes.

Suggested Citation

  • Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2010. "Social capital and management control systems: A study of a non-government organization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 737-756, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:35:y:2010:i:8:p:737-756
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361-3682(10)00080-2
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mueller, F. & Carter, C., 2007. "`We are all managers now': Managerialism and professional engineering in UK electricity utilities," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(1-2), pages 181-195.
    2. Dent, Jeremy F., 1991. "Accounting and organizational cultures: A field study of the emergence of a new organizational reality," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(8), pages 705-732.
    3. Wai Fong Chua & Habib Mahama, 2007. "The Effect of Network Ties on Accounting Controls in a Supply Alliance: Field Study Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(1), pages 47-86, March.
    4. Covaleski, Mark A. & Dirsmith, Mark W. & Michelman, Jeffrey E., 1993. "An institutional theory perspective on the DRG framework, case-mix accounting systems and health-care organizations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 65-80, January.
    5. Thomas Ahrens & Christopher S. Chapman, 2004. "Accounting for Flexibility and Efficiency: A Field Study of Management Control Systems in a Restaurant Chain," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 21(2), pages 271-301, June.
    6. Widener, Sally K., 2007. "An empirical analysis of the levers of control framework," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(7-8), pages 757-788.
    7. Henry Mintzberg & James A. Waters, 1985. "Of strategies, deliberate and emergent," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(3), pages 257-272, July.
    8. Hopwood, Anthony G., 2005. "After 30 years," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(7-8), pages 585-586.
    9. Widener, Sally K., 2004. "An empirical investigation of the relation between the use of strategic human capital and the design of the management control system," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(3-4), pages 377-399.
    10. Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Bourn, Michael, 1990. "The roles of accounting information systems in an organization experiencing financial crisis," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 399-424.
    11. Siegwart Lindenberg, 2000. "It Takes Both Trust and Lack of Mistrust: The Workings of Cooperation and Relational Signaling in Contractual Relationships," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 4(1), pages 11-33, March.
    12. Hopwood, Ag, 1972. "Empirical Study Of Role Of Accounting Data In Performance Evaluation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10, pages 156-182.
    13. D. Gotteland, 2005. "Editorial," Post-Print halshs-00103100, HAL.
    14. Cooper, Robin & Slagmulder, Regine, 2004. "Interorganizational cost management and relational context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-26, January.
    15. Mouritsen, Jan & Thrane, Sof, 2006. "Accounting, network complementarities and the development of inter-organisational relations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 241-275, April.
    16. Maurice Schiff, 1992. "Social Capital, Labor Mobility, and Welfare," Rationality and Society, , vol. 4(2), pages 157-175, April.
    17. Free, Clinton, 2008. "Walking the talk? Supply chain accounting and trust among UK supermarkets and suppliers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 629-662, August.
    18. Tomkins, Cyril, 2001. "Interdependencies, trust and information in relationships, alliances and networks," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 161-191, March.
    19. Chenhall, R. H. & Morris, D., 1995. "Organic decision and communication processes and management accounting systems in entrepreneurial and conservative business organizations," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 485-497, October.
    20. Foley, Michael W. & Edwards, Bob, 1999. "Is It Time to Disinvest in Social Capital?," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 141-173, May.
    21. D. Gotteland, 2005. "Editorial," Post-Print halshs-00094555, HAL.
    22. Mundy, Julia, 2010. "Creating dynamic tensions through a balanced use of management control systems," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 499-523, July.
    23. Hopwood, Ag, 1972. "Empirical Study Of Role Of Accounting Data In Performance Evaluation - Reply," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10, pages 189-193.
    24. Wood Júnior, Thomaz, 2005. "Editorial," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 45(1), January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chenhall, Robert H. & Hall, Matthew & Smith, David, 2010. "Social capital and management control systems: a study of a non-government organization," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 32980, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Chenhall, Robert H. & Moers, Frank, 2015. "The role of innovation in the evolution of management accounting and its integration into management control," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 1-13.
    3. Sharlene Biswas & Chris Akroyd, 2022. "Collaborative inter‐organisational relationships and management control change," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4569-4586, December.
    4. Habib Mahama & Zhichao (Alex) Wang, 2023. "Impact of the interactive and diagnostic uses of performance measurement systems on procedural fairness perception, cooperation and performance in supply alliances," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 3253-3296, September.
    5. Fasshauer, Ingrid, 2012. "Les interactions entre contrôle et stratégie : redéfinition du rôle des cadres intermédiaires et du levier interactif de contrôle," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/11150 edited by Berland, Nicolas.
    6. Bisbe, Josep & Kruis, Anne-Marie & Madini, Paola, 2019. "Coercive, enabling, diagnostic, and interactive control: Untangling the threads of their connections," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 124-144.
    7. Vosselman, Ed & Meer-Kooistra, Jeltje van der, 2009. "Accounting for control and trust building in interfirm transactional relationships," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 267-283, February.
    8. Gerdin, Jonas & Johansson, Tobias & Wennblom, Gabriella, 2019. "The contingent nature of complementarity between results and value-based controls for managing company-level profitability: A situational strength perspective," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    9. Clinton Free, 2007. "Supply†Chain Accounting Practices in the UK Retail Sector: Enabling or Coercing Collaboration?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 897-933, September.
    10. O'Connor, Neale G. & Schloetzer, Jason D. & Romero, Jorge & Wu, Anne, 2022. "How multi-sourcing can influence management control: Case study evidence from the electronic products supply chain," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(5).
    11. Liff, Roy & Wahlström, Gunnar, 2017. "Managerś assessment of thin and thick trust: The importance of benevolence in interbank relations," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 151-161.
    12. Benjamin Benoit, 2014. "Is there a manager in the plane ? The remarquable absence of the manager in enabling control [Y a-t-il un manager dans l'avion ? Ou la relative absence du manager dans les approches capacitantes du," Post-Print hal-01899013, HAL.
    13. Hartmann, Frank & Slapnicar, Sergeja, 2009. "How formal performance evaluation affects trust between superior and subordinate managers," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(6-7), pages 722-737, August.
    14. Norio Sawabe, 2015. "Value-driven responsibility accounting - dynamic tensions generated by competing values embedded in the management control system," Discussion papers e-14-020, Graduate School of Economics Project Center, Kyoto University.
    15. Juan Manuel Ramon-Jeronimo & Raquel Florez-Lopez & Maria Angeles Ramon-Jeronimo, 2017. "Understanding the Generation of Value along Supply Chains: Balancing Control Information and Relational Governance Mechanisms in Downstream and Upstream Relationships," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-31, August.
    16. Berry, A.J. & Coad, A.F. & Harris, E.P. & Otley, D.T. & Stringer, C., 2009. "Emerging themes in management control: A review of recent literature," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 2-20.
    17. Caglio, Ariela & Ditillo, Angelo, 2008. "A review and discussion of management control in inter-firm relationships: Achievements and future directions," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 865-898.
    18. Mahama, Habib & Chua, Wai Fong, 2016. "A study of alliance dynamics, accounting and trust-as-practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 29-46.
    19. repec:dau:papers:123456789/2769 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. O'Dwyer, Brendan & Unerman, Jeffrey, 2008. "The paradox of greater NGO accountability: A case study of Amnesty Ireland," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 801-824.
    21. Bisbe, Josep & Batista-Foguet, Joan-Manuel & Chenhall, Robert, 2007. "Defining management accounting constructs: A methodological note on the risks of conceptual misspecification," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(7-8), pages 789-820.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:aosoci:v:35:y:2010:i:8:p:737-756. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/aos .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.