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Diagnostic control systems and boundary systems: Pathway or barrier to SMEs’ entrepreneurial success

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  • Chaffik Bakkali

    (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - UM - Université de Montpellier, Labex Entreprendre - UM - Université de Montpellier)

  • Jonathan Maurice

    (TSM - Toulouse School of Management Research - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - TSM - Toulouse School of Management - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse)

  • Jeffrey G. Covin

    (UW - University of Wyoming)

Abstract

This study examines how "negative" management control systems condition the performance implications of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) in SMEs. Building on Simons' levers of control framework, we focus on diagnostic control systems and boundary systems, conceptualized as negative forces, and theorize that the EO–performance relationship is shaped by their configurational rather than isolated use. Using survey data from 276 French SMEs and structural equation modeling, we test a three-way interaction between EO, diagnostic control systems, and boundary systems. Our results confirm a positive EO–performance relationship and show that this effect is preserved when SMEs rely on diagnostic control systems and boundary systems in a balanced way, whether at high or low levels, but largely disappears when one lever is overemphasized at the expense of the other. We thus uncover an entrepreneurship–control trap in which misaligned negative controls prevent SMEs from converting EO into superior performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Chaffik Bakkali & Jonathan Maurice & Jeffrey G. Covin, 2026. "Diagnostic control systems and boundary systems: Pathway or barrier to SMEs’ entrepreneurial success," Post-Print hal-05601333, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05601333
    DOI: 10.1080/00472778.2026.2616377
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-05601333v1
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