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The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between the interactive and diagnostic use of MCSs with the extent of adoption of contemporary management accounting practices, and the subsequent impact on the success of such practices in the public sector.

Data were collected through the distribution of a mail survey of 740 questionnaires to public sector organisations in Australia, and analysed using structural equation modelling.

The study found that both the interactive and diagnostic approaches to using MCSs exhibit a positive association with the adoption of contemporary management accounting practices, both as a package and individually. In addition, while the level of success of contemporary management accounting practices was moderate, it was found that the extent of adoption of the practices enhanced their success.

The findings suggest that by intensifying the use of MCSs in a more interactive and diagnostic manner, public sector organisations are more likely to adopt contemporary management to a greater extent, with the subsequent increase in the extent of adoption of such practices to exacerbate their success.

The study contributes to the MCS contingency-based research by highlighting the interrelationship between two aspects of MCSs, the use of controls and the adoption and success of management accounting practices.

This study aims to examine the role of organisational dynamic capabilities (strategic flexibility and employee empowerment) in mediating the relationship between management control systems (MCSs), in particular the interactive and diagnostic approaches to using controls, with organisational change and performance.

Data were collected based on a mail survey of public sector organisations in Australia and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).

The findings indicate that strategic flexibility and employee empowerment mediate the association between the interactive approach to MCSs with organisational performance, and strategic flexibility mediates the relationship between the interactive approach to MCSs with organisational change.

The study’s findings inform public sector practitioners as to how to enact change within and enhance the performance of public sector organisations. Specifically, managers are advised to focus on the use of interactive controls and the development of two dynamic organisational capabilities, strategic flexibility and employee empowerment.

The study provides an initial empirical insight into the relation between controls and dynamic capabilities and their role in enacting change and performance within the public sector. The findings suggest that the achievement of new public management ideals is reliant upon the organisational environment, with change and performance facilitated by the interactive use of controls and strategic flexibility and employee empowerment.

This study examines the impact of environmental activity management (EAM) on triple bottom line (TBL) performance and the role that sustainability strategies play in mediating these relationships. Data were collected using a survey of Australian managers and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings indicate that each of the three levels of EAM – Environmental Activity Analysis, Environmental Activity Cost Analysis, and Environmental Activity Based Costing – influence-specific aspects of performance, either directly and/or indirectly through environmental and social sustainability strategies. The findings suggest that managers could enhance their use of EAM practices through the use of sustainability strategies in order to enhance performance. This study provides empirical insight into the impact that EAM practices and environmental and social sustainability strategies have on all three aspects of TBL performance.

This study examines the association between the use of strategic management accounting (SMA) practices and competitive advantage and the moderating role of four aspects of organisational culture – teamwork orientation, outcome orientation, innovation orientation and attention to detail orientation – on this association. Online survey data were collected from 408 accountants in Australian business organisations, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the data. The results indicate a positive association between the use of SMA practices and competitive advantage with such an association positively moderated by one cultural dimension, teamwork orientation. Specifically, the findings indicate that the positive effect of SMA practices on competitive advantage is dependent upon the fit between the use of SMA practices and teamwork orientation with more (less) teamwork-oriented organisations exhibiting a stronger (weaker) association between the use of SMA practices and competitive advantage.

This study examines the association between the use of a package of contemporary and a package of traditional management accounting practices with organizational change and organizational performance.

Data were collected based on a mail survey distributed to a sample of 740 public sector organizations.

The findings indicate that while the prevalence of traditional practices is still dominant, such practices were not associated with organizational change or performance. Rather, those organizations that use contemporary management accounting practices to a greater extent experienced greater change and stronger performance.

The findings suggest that contemporary management accounting practices can assist public sector practitioners in improving performance and promoting organizational change.

The study provides an empirical insight into the use and effectiveness of management accounting practices in the public sector. The study provides the first empirical analysis of the effect of using a package of management accounting practices in the public sector.

Small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries, particularly in the Sub-Saharan African region, find it hard to innovate due to severe resource constraints and high institutional voids. Given this, the paper examines three international strategic responses that small and medium-sized enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa adopt to implement innovations in the face of weak institutional environments.

Using comprehensive data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, the study applies the Instrumental Variable Probit approach to analyse a sample of 8,466 SMEs from eleven countries in the Sub-Saharan African region.

The empirical results show that foreign ownership negatively affects product and process innovation. Additionally, the results reveal that small and medium-sized enterprises that leverage exporting and international quality certifications are likely to implement innovations.

The paper contributes to the literature by suggesting that small and medium-sized enterprises must exploit strategic alternatives to improve their innovation efforts when operating in a weak institutional environment. Thus, by exploring international strategic responses to institutional difficulties when implementing innovations, this paper goes beyond the prevailing research approach in developing countries that mainly emphasises the barriers to innovations.