Managing sustainable development with management control systems: A literature review
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Managing sustainable development with management control systems : A literature review. / Lueg, Rainer; Radlach, Ronny.
In: European Management Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2, 01.04.2016, p. 158-171.Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Managing sustainable development with management control systems
T2 - A literature review
AU - Lueg, Rainer
AU - Radlach, Ronny
PY - 2016/4/1
Y1 - 2016/4/1
N2 - The purpose of this article is to synthesize evidence of management control systems (MCS) that are employed by organizations to enforce sustainable development (SD). We aim at suggesting a roadmap for coherent research.For this, we conduct a 'systematic' review based on an initial sample of 12,139 sources between 1988 and 2013. We then discuss 83 empirical studies in natural and social sciences. The MCS framework of Malmi and Brown (2008) ensures a comprehensive understanding of SD enforcement in practice.We identify diverse types of controls that organizations use to enforce SD. Our findings problematize examples where the MCS is unable to appropriately address all relevant aspects of SD. We find that organizations prefer to manage and control smaller aspects of SD, such as environmental responsibility. Social responsibility is addressed less frequently, and only few organizations implement a sustainable MCS (SMCS) that addresses all aspects of SD. Classic 'cybernetic' controls are the preferred choice in MCS, but organizations have advanced beyond them during the past decade.Our main contribution is a structured map of contemporary research that points to areas where our understanding of SMCSs is still scarce, such as their interplay with contextual factors and the resulting, long-term performance effects.
AB - The purpose of this article is to synthesize evidence of management control systems (MCS) that are employed by organizations to enforce sustainable development (SD). We aim at suggesting a roadmap for coherent research.For this, we conduct a 'systematic' review based on an initial sample of 12,139 sources between 1988 and 2013. We then discuss 83 empirical studies in natural and social sciences. The MCS framework of Malmi and Brown (2008) ensures a comprehensive understanding of SD enforcement in practice.We identify diverse types of controls that organizations use to enforce SD. Our findings problematize examples where the MCS is unable to appropriately address all relevant aspects of SD. We find that organizations prefer to manage and control smaller aspects of SD, such as environmental responsibility. Social responsibility is addressed less frequently, and only few organizations implement a sustainable MCS (SMCS) that addresses all aspects of SD. Classic 'cybernetic' controls are the preferred choice in MCS, but organizations have advanced beyond them during the past decade.Our main contribution is a structured map of contemporary research that points to areas where our understanding of SMCSs is still scarce, such as their interplay with contextual factors and the resulting, long-term performance effects.
KW - Control
KW - Corporate social responsibility
KW - Literature review
KW - Management control system
KW - Management practice
KW - Sustainability
KW - Sustainable development
KW - Management studies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84961179166&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.emj.2015.11.005
DO - 10.1016/j.emj.2015.11.005
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:84961179166
VL - 34
SP - 158
EP - 171
JO - European Management Journal
JF - European Management Journal
SN - 0263-2373
IS - 2
ER -