Organizational improvisation and the reduced usefulness of performance measurement BI functionalities

Peters, MD; Wieder, B; Sutton, SG

Organizational improvisation and the reduced usefulness of performance measurement BI functionalities

Peters, MD Wieder, B

Sutton, SG

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 2018, 29 pp. 1 - 15
Issue Date:: 2018-06-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Peters, MD	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Wieder, B https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7093-6213	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Sutton, SG	en_US
dc.date.available	2020-06-02T19:06:42Z
dc.date.issued	2018-06-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	International Journal of Accounting Information Systems, 2018, 29 pp. 1 - 15	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1467-0895	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/122177
dc.description.abstract	© 2018 Elsevier Inc. Firms are increasingly turning to business intelligence (BI) systems to support their management control activities, while management accounting researchers are increasingly focused on studying beneficial roles of such systems. The extant research focusses on how performance-enhancing effects of BI systems occur via enhanced managerial learning and knowledge creation. The research has however failed to consider how managerial learning and knowledge creation processes can be shaped by fundamental organizational contingencies. This paper ventures into this unexplored space to consider how organizational improvisation may moderate beneficial roles played by BI. We derive the concept of “semi-structuring heuristics” and apply it to theorize that the impact of BI functionalities on performance measurement capabilities is negatively moderated by organizational improvisation. Our hypotheses include two BI constructs (BI-planning functionality and BI-reporting functionality) and two organizational improvisation competences (strategic momentum and organizational flexibility). We test our hypotheses with partial least squares procedures using survey data from 324 top-level managers. We find that BI-planning functionality has a positive effect on performance measurement capabilities that is negatively moderated by both organizational improvisation competences. The only significant effect of BI-reporting functionality is as a positive moderator of the effect of BI-planning functionality. Organizational improvisation competences are quite common and entail managers using only “minimal forms” of performance measurement information. By implication, if the term BI “functionality” connotes usefulness and fitness-for-purpose, then this term appears a misnomer in contexts reliant on organizational improvisation.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	International Journal of Accounting Information Systems	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.accinf.2018.03.005	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Information Systems	en_US
dc.title	Organizational improvisation and the reduced usefulness of performance measurement BI functionalities	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	29	en_US
utslib.for	1501 Accounting, Auditing and Accountability	en_US
utslib.for	0806 Information Systems	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Accounting Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	29	en_US

Abstract:

© 2018 Elsevier Inc. Firms are increasingly turning to business intelligence (BI) systems to support their management control activities, while management accounting researchers are increasingly focused on studying beneficial roles of such systems. The extant research focusses on how performance-enhancing effects of BI systems occur via enhanced managerial learning and knowledge creation. The research has however failed to consider how managerial learning and knowledge creation processes can be shaped by fundamental organizational contingencies. This paper ventures into this unexplored space to consider how organizational improvisation may moderate beneficial roles played by BI. We derive the concept of “semi-structuring heuristics” and apply it to theorize that the impact of BI functionalities on performance measurement capabilities is negatively moderated by organizational improvisation. Our hypotheses include two BI constructs (BI-planning functionality and BI-reporting functionality) and two organizational improvisation competences (strategic momentum and organizational flexibility). We test our hypotheses with partial least squares procedures using survey data from 324 top-level managers. We find that BI-planning functionality has a positive effect on performance measurement capabilities that is negatively moderated by both organizational improvisation competences. The only significant effect of BI-reporting functionality is as a positive moderator of the effect of BI-planning functionality. Organizational improvisation competences are quite common and entail managers using only “minimal forms” of performance measurement information. By implication, if the term BI “functionality” connotes usefulness and fitness-for-purpose, then this term appears a misnomer in contexts reliant on organizational improvisation.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/122177