Management Control in Services : A Contingency Study of Responsibility Accounting in Highly Interactive Services

Abstract: Management Control in ServicesThis report examines the use of management control in services, with particular reference to the role of formal control systems in attributing and devolving responsibility within organizations. The study draws extensively on the service as well as the management control literature and advances an analytical framework based on a process-oriented approach to responsibility accounting. The study is primarily based on contingency theory, while some complementary perspectives are derived from from agency theory. Two case studies are used to generate a theory of responsibility accounting in highly interactive services. The study combines deductive and inductive theorizing and makes a number of important contributions to service as well as management control research.Sven Modell is a graduate of Lund University and the National University of Ireland (University College Cork). He has been researching and teaching at the Service Research Centre at the University of Karlstad since 1994. His articles have appeared in such journals as Management Accounting Research, The International Journal of Service Industry Management and The Journal of Business and Management