Title: Do management control systems foster or hamper middle managers' entrepreneurial engagement?

Authors: Stefan Linder; Simon S. Torp

Addresses: ESSEC Business School, Avenue Bernard Hirsch, BP 50105, 95021 Cergy-Pontoise Cedex, France ' Aarhus University - Herning, Birk Centerpark 15, 7400 Herning, Denmark

Abstract: Fostering entrepreneurial behaviour has become a key necessity for established firms today and is attracting increasingly scholarly attention. Surprisingly, the role of Management Control Systems (MCS) has, however, remained underexplored. Given their pervasiveness in practice, this seems unfortunate. This even more so as MCS have often been portrayed as at odds with creative or innovative activities. Relying on a sample of Denmark's 500 largest firms, we test the impact of key MCS on middle managers' engagement in entrepreneurial behaviour. Results support both a positive as well as a negative view on MCS' role for entrepreneurship: Some MCS are positively related, while others are negatively related. Thus, the choice of appropriate MCS provides a lever by which top managers can influence the level of entrepreneurship in their firms.

Keywords: management control systems; strategic entrepreneurship; intrapreneurship; middle managers; Denmark; balanced scorecard; incentives; change management; entrepreneurial engagement; entrepreneurial behaviour.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2014.060257

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2014 Vol.5 No.2, pp.107 - 124

Received: 31 Jan 2013
Accepted: 04 Nov 2013
Published online: 23 Oct 2014 *

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