Feedback and management accounting: A review of research into behavioural consequences

Abstract While feedback has been viewed as a central component of an organization's management accounting and control system, much of the research on system design has not explicitly considered the behavioural consequences of providing organizational members with feedback. In order to redress this situation, this paper reviews some of the research conducted in psychology, as well as related work in accounting, in order to identify future research opportunities. In particular, issues relating to (a) the psychological closeness, credibility and power of feedback sources, (b) the sign, frequency and type of feedback messages, and (c) the individual differences of locus of control and self-esteem, are discussed. In the case of sources of feedback, particular attention is paid to the interpersonal relationships betweeen superiors and subordinates and between managers and accountants. Furthermore, the review of the literature reveals that the feedback phenomenon is a complex one. Thus it is argued that care must be exercised in making both predictions about the impact of feedback and general statements about feedback effectiveness. In order to place the complexity in perspective, a contingency view is taken and the relevance of certain contingency factors, when investigating the behavioural consequences of feedback in accounting settings, is discussed. Finally, several avenues for future research into feedback in management accounting are identified and described.

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