Le valenze tangibili e intangibili dei management control systems: il caso di un'azienda familiare di costruzioni

Purpose: Recently we observe an increase in management accounting (MA) and control studies which investigate institutional, strategic and organizational interdependences of MA systems and their role in internal routines. This trend increases academic opportunities to foster ideas according to international and contemporary scenarios. These in depth connections focus the debate on management accounting change and culture of control themes, adopting positivist and interpretive approaches. Through the exploration of these papers we get evidence on interpretive studies which contribute to surface how these forces influence organizational culture and management accounting and control practices. Some authors suggest to focus the analysis on bidirectional influence of MA systems: (i) how MA systems contribute to change organizations and (ii) how MA systems are designed, implemented and used according to institutional or market or governance requirements. Despite some previous literature, the purpose of this dissertation is the comprehension of "How external and internal forces affect the design, implementation and use of management control systems in an Italian family construction business". We explore in detail how these influences have been reconciled from internal actors (with distinction between family, non-family members and management) and how this change faces external context, internal learning and power relations. Design/Methodology/Approach: According to interpretive approach based on New Institutional Theory we conduct a 3-year longitudinal study through action research in an Italian family construction business. We collect, analyse and interpret multiple source of data: n. 38 main documents, n. 85 interviews, n. 78 observations and n. 5 formal meetings. Findings: this dissertation advances contributions on: (i) how theorise the agreement between institutional and market forces in New Institutional Sociology; (ii) the pro-active and mediator role of management and professionals during the change process; (iii) the change of dominant culture after the introduction of the new MA and control system. Originality/Value: (i) family governance features on MA studies, (ii) organisational and power relations, (iii) budgeting features according to construction business, (iv) methodology adopted.