Designing Ethical Management Control: Overcoming the Harmful Effect of Management Control Systems on Job-Related Stress

Stefan Linder (), Bernard Leca (), Adrián Zicari () and Veronica Casarin ()
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Stefan Linder: ESSEC Business School
Bernard Leca: ESSEC Business School
Adrián Zicari: ESSEC Business School
Veronica Casarin: ESSEC Business School

Journal of Business Ethics, 2021, vol. 172, issue 4, No 8, 747-764

Abstract: Abstract Ethical aspects of management control systems (MCS) are attracting increasing attention among scholars and practitioners. Much of the work centers on their aims. We complement this scholarship by applying the ethical principle of “no harm,” i.e., non-maleficence, to examine how those aims are achieved. We illustrate this approach by exploring the effects of four MCS designs on job-related stress drawing on the differentiation of stress into two dimensions: a challenge (i.e., unproblematic and even desirable) and a threat dimension (i.e., dangerous; causing psychological strain). Results from a lagged field-survey with 471 managers and employees from the UK and the U.S. support key predictions and offer first insights into designing MCS based on a “no harm” ethics. Our study highlights the benefits of interdisciplinary research in business ethics and hopefully encourages more work on MCS from a perspective based on the non-maleficence principle.

Keywords: Management control; Non-maleficence; Job-related stress; Challenge; Threat (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-020-04490-9

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