The impacts of influence strategies on organizational subgroup members' evaluations of management accounting change

This research project investigates how different influence strategies affect business unit managers’ and controllers’ evaluations of the success of a management accounting change (MAC). Using survey data on paired observations from managers and controllers in 68 business units, I find that influence strategies’ impacts vary among managers and controllers. Specifically, managerial attitude towards an MAC is a mediating variable to achieving MAC success (i.e. the use of the management accounting change, the achievement of change project goals, and organizational learning from the change). Controller attitudes towards an MAC are positively associated with job opportunities and training; however, controller attitudes towards an MAC do not explain MAC success. Training of controllers has a positive impact on MAC use. Finally, organizational (centralization, size, industry), personal (managerial tenure), and other variables (initiation of change, user influence, and implementation phase) affect both organizational members’ attitudes towards an MAC as well as MAC success. The paper contributes to the literature on the complex relationship between influence strategies and MAC success; the results suggest that influence strategies should be tailored to organizational subgroup members to increase an MAC’s effectiveness.