AAA Spark Meeting of Regions

The Internal Consistency of Sustainability Management Control Practices

• In Event: CsR

Abstract

Despite a theoretical recognition of systematic interdependencies of control practices, few empirical studies in management control literature have examined it.
Drawing on the theoretical constructs of complements and substitutes presented by (Grabner & Moers, 2013); this article attempts to open the black box of control practices by investigating the systematic interdependencies among them. To delineate the complements and substitute phenomena, the current paper explores the management control systems (MCS) in the context of sustainability practices of a multinational company based in France.
Through a series of in-depth interviews supported by documents consultation, this study precisely examines how a company design a set of MCS elements to solve particular organisational control problems in terms of sustainability integration and goal alignment.
Through careful interpretation, the use of sustainability performance indicators, cultural control and rewards as the elements of sustainability control systems complement each other in sustainability integration and sustainability objective alignment. However, on the contrary, the use of the budget as part of sustainability control system substitutes the usage of sustainability performance indicators and cultural controls.

Authors

• meer abhaurrahman, University cote d’Azur/ GRM

• Eric Cauvin, Professor

• Marc Journeault, Université Laval