The role of structure and agency in management accounting control change of a family owned firm: A Greek case study

Konstantinos Stergiou, Junaid Ashraf and Shahzad Uddin

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, 2013, vol. 24, issue 1, 62-73

Abstract: This study seeks to understand the changes in management accounting controls in a large Greek company (pseudonym: FA), with a focus on understanding the role of structure and agency in this change. In order to do this, we have employed a critical realist philosophy, pioneered by Roy Bhaskar (Bhaskar, 1979; 1997). We believe that the empirics of the case, the time span under consideration, and our theoretical approach provide us with a unique opportunity to explore the role of structure and agency in changing management accounting controls within the case firm. Our analysis revealed that changes in management control practices in FA were a function of different interacting structural conditions as mediated through human agency. This paper contributes to the debate about how to conceptualise agency and structure in management accounting control change (Kilfoyle and Richardson, 2011). Our analysis also demonstrates that the ‘dualism’ approach to agency and structure will result in a better analysis of management accounting control changes within firms.

Keywords: Critical; Management control; Structure-agency; Greece; Critical realism; Critique; Contrôle de gestion; 批判性; 管理控制; Crítica; Control de Gestión (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:24:y:2013:i:1:p:62-73

DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2012.09.007

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