Diffusion of the Balanced Scorecard: motives for adoption, design choices, organisational fit, and consequences
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In: Accounting Forum, Vol. 46, No. 3, 03.07.2022, p. 287-313.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Diffusion of the Balanced Scorecard
T2 - motives for adoption, design choices, organisational fit, and consequences
AU - Lueg, Rainer
AU - Carvalho e Silva, Ana Luisa
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 University of South Australia.
PY - 2022/7/3
Y1 - 2022/7/3
N2 - The purpose of this exploratory study is to understand how the motives behind a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) adoption affect the BSC's design, organisational fit, and consequences from a diffusion theory perspective. Using semi-structured interviews, we follow up on three organisations that are long-term adopters of the BSC. We find that the motives for adopting the BSC do not follow the conventional model whereby early adopters have economic (rational) and late adopters non-economic (social) motives, but that these motives interact during the diffusion process. These organisations reframed the BSC and bundled it with other practices to achieve a better cultural, technical and political fit (i.e. top-management-related factors and IT systems). Cultural misfits are the most formative and can overpower technical and political aspects of fit. This has led to management practices that differ from the original design of the BSC. Also, we critically assess consequences of the BSC adoptions. Even adopters emphasising economic motives for adopting the BSC did not attempt to assess its ex-post financial impact. Thereby, our study contributes a critical view on fashionable management innovations.
AB - The purpose of this exploratory study is to understand how the motives behind a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) adoption affect the BSC's design, organisational fit, and consequences from a diffusion theory perspective. Using semi-structured interviews, we follow up on three organisations that are long-term adopters of the BSC. We find that the motives for adopting the BSC do not follow the conventional model whereby early adopters have economic (rational) and late adopters non-economic (social) motives, but that these motives interact during the diffusion process. These organisations reframed the BSC and bundled it with other practices to achieve a better cultural, technical and political fit (i.e. top-management-related factors and IT systems). Cultural misfits are the most formative and can overpower technical and political aspects of fit. This has led to management practices that differ from the original design of the BSC. Also, we critically assess consequences of the BSC adoptions. Even adopters emphasising economic motives for adopting the BSC did not attempt to assess its ex-post financial impact. Thereby, our study contributes a critical view on fashionable management innovations.
KW - adoption
KW - Balanced Scorecard
KW - critical management studies
KW - diffusion as classification
KW - diffusion theory
KW - organizational culture
KW - performance measurement
KW - upper echelons
KW - Management studies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109348546&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01559982.2021.1930341
DO - 10.1080/01559982.2021.1930341
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:85109348546
VL - 46
SP - 287
EP - 313
JO - Accounting Forum
JF - Accounting Forum
SN - 0155-9982
IS - 3
ER -