Decentralization, perceived environmental uncertainty, managerial performance and management accounting system information in Egyptian hospitals

Salah A. Hammad, Ruzita Jusoh and Imam Ghozali

International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, 2013, vol. 21, issue 4, 314-330

Abstract: Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence concerning: the relationships between decentralization, perceived environmental uncertainty, and management accounting systems (MAS) information and the relationships between MAS information and managerial performance within Egyptian hospitals. Design/methodology/approach - – Data were collected using questionnaires that were sent personally to the managers or heads of departments of Egyptian hospitals. Departmental level was used as the unit of analysis. Data obtained from 200 hospital managers were analyzed using partial least squares. Findings - – The study reveals that decentralization and environmental uncertainty, to some extent, are essential factors in designing efficient and effective MAS. Hospitals with decentralized structure make better use of timely, aggregated and integrated MAS information. Environment in which the hospitals operate does have significant influence on the type of information provided by the MAS. Research limitations/implications - – Using personally administered questionnaires causes the sample to be rather limited and not comprehensive enough. Practical implications - – The current study offers the hospital managers some useful aspects related to the function of MAS information that can be used to enhance their managerial performance. The provision of broad-scope and timeliness of MAS information can facilitate more effective managerial decisions. MAS designers and Egyptian policy makers should emphasize on decentralized decision-making by delegating sufficient authority to lower level managers as much as possible. Originality/value - – This study is one of the few studies done in Africa in the field of MAS, particularly in the context of Egyptian hospitals.

Keywords: Egypt; Hospital; Management accounting system; Decentralization; Perceived environmental uncertainty; Managerial performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijaimp:v:21:y:2013:i:4:p:314-330

DOI: 10.1108/IJAIM-02-2012-0005

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Accounting & Information Management is currently edited by Dr Xin (Robert) Luo and Professor Han Donker

More articles in International Journal of Accounting & Information Management from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().