Research on Creativity in Management Accounting: Overview and Research Opportunities in the Brazilian Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17524/repec.v14i1.2565Keywords:
Creativity, Management Accounting, Management ControlAbstract
Creativity is a source of competitive advantage for organizations and then has been widely investigated in psychology and business (Speckbacher, 2017). Despite the importance of the topic, research in management accounting has predominantly focused on examining the effects of management control systems on individual performance for routine tasks which are predictable and repetitive (Brüggen, Feichter & Williamson, 2018). Only recently, the management accounting research starts to pay attention to the effect of management controls on creative task performance which are more difficult to predict and are not repetitive (Shields, 2015). In particular, in the Brazilian context, empirical studies in management accounting emphasizing creativity are still inexistent. The importance of understanding the role of management controls in stimulating creativity in the work environment is to allow the design of appropriate management control systems to the level of creativity desired by organizations.
The purpose of this editorial is to offer an overview of the research on creativity in management accounting and discuss opportunities for future research in the Brazilian context. In particular, this editorial addresses the following questions: How has creativity been defined and operationalized in the management accounting research? Do control and creativity represent conflicting goals? Which management controls have been examined to explain creativity? What research opportunities are there on the topic in Brazil? To discuss these questions, we rely on prior work developed by researchers who have dedicated particular attention to the topic of creativity, such as Michael Williamson, Isabela Grabner and Gerhard Speckbacher, in management accounting, and Teresa Amabile and Robert Eisenberger, in psychology and business.
References
Adler, P. S., & Chen, C. X. (2011). Combining creativity and control: Understanding individual motivation in large-scale collaborative creativity. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 36(2), 63-85.
Aguiar, A. B. (2017). Pesquisa experimental em contabilidade: propósito, desenho e execução. Advances in Scientific and Applied Accounting, 10(2), 224-244.
Amabile, T. M. (1982). Social psychology of creativity: A consensual assessment technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43(5), 997-1013.
Amabile, T. M. (1983). The social psychology of creativity: A componential conceptualization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(2), 357-376.
Amabile, T. M. (1996). Creativity in context: Update to" the social psychology of creativity.". Westview press.
Amabile, T. M., & Pillemer, J. (2012). Perspectives on the social psychology of creativity. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 46(1), 3-15.
Axtell, C. M., Holman, D. J., Unsworth, K. L., Wall, T. D., Waterson, P. E., & Harrington, E. (2000). Shopfloor innovation: Facilitating the suggestion and implementation of ideas. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 73(3), 265-285.
Basadur, M., & Finkbeiner, C. T. (1985). Measuring preference for ideation in creative problem-solving training. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 21(1), 37-49.
Brüggen, A., Feichter, C., & Williamson, M. G. (2018). The effect of input and output targets for routine tasks on creative task performance. The Accounting Review, 93(1), 29-43.
Cardinaels, E., & Yin, H. (2015). Think twice before going for incentives: Social norms and the principal's decision on compensation contracts. Journal of Accounting Research, 53(5), 985-1015.
Chen, C. X., Williamson, M. G., & Zhou, F. H. (2012). Reward system design and group creativity: An experimental investigation. The Accounting Review, 87(6), 1885-1911.
Cools, M., Stouthuysen, K., & Van den Abbeele, A. (2017). Management control for stimulating different types of creativity: The role of budgets. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 29(3), 1-21.
Davila, A., & Ditillo, A. (2017). Management control systems for creative teams: Managing stylistic creativity in fashion companies. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 29(3), 27-47.
Dorenbosch, L., Engen, M. L. V., & Verhagen, M. (2005). On‐the‐job innovation: The impact of job design and human resource management through production ownership. Creativity and Innovation Management, 14(2), 129-141.
Eisenberger, R., & Aselage, J. (2009). Incremental effects of reward on experienced performance pressure: Positive outcomes for intrinsic interest and creativity. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 30(1), 95-117.
Eisenberger, R., & Cameron, J. (1996). Detrimental effects of reward: Reality or myth? American Psychologist, 51(11), 1153-1166.
Eisenberger, R., & Rhoades, L. (2001). Incremental effects of reward on creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(4), 728-741.
Eisenberger, R., & Shanock, L. (2003). Rewards, intrinsic motivation, and creativity: A case study of conceptual and methodological isolation. Creativity Research Journal, 15(2-3), 121-130.
Grabner, I. (2014). Incentive system design in creativity-dependent firms. The Accounting Review, 89(5), 1729-1750.
Grabner, I., & Speckbacher, G. (2016). The cost of creativity: A control perspective. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 48, 31-42.
Kachelmeier, S. J., Wang, L. W., & Williamson, M. G. (2019). Incentivizing the creative process: From initial quantity to eventual creativity. The Accounting Review, 94(2), 249-266.
Kachelmeier, S. J., & Williamson, M. G. (2010). Attracting creativity: The initial and aggregate effects of contract selection on creativity-weighted productivity. The Accounting Review, 85(5), 1669-1691.
Kachelmeier, S. J., Reichert, B. E., & Williamson, M. G. (2008). Measuring and motivating quantity, creativity, or both. Journal of Accounting Research, 46(2), 341-373.
Maas, V. S., & Van Rinsum, M. (2013). How control system design influences performance misreporting. Journal of Accounting Research, 51(5), 1159-1186.
Ouchi, W. G. (1979). A conceptual framework for the design of organizational control mechanisms. Management Science, 25(9), 833-848.
Shalley, C. E., & Gilson, L. L. (2004). What leaders need to know: A review of social and contextual factors that can foster or hinder creativity. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(1), 33-53.
Shields, M. D. (2015). Established management accounting knowledge. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 27(1), 123-132.
Simons, R. (1995). Levers of Control. Boston, MA, US: Harvard Business School Press.
Speckbacher, G. (2017). Creativity research in management accounting: A commentary. Journal of Management Accounting Research, 29(3), 49-54.
Speklé, R. F., van Elten, H. J., & Widener, S. K. (2017). Creativity and control: A paradox—Evidence from the levers of control framework. Behavioral Research in Accounting, 29(2), 73-96.
Sprinkle, G. B. (2003). Perspectives on experimental research in managerial accounting. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 28(2-3), 287-318.
Webb, R. A., Williamson, M. G., & Zhang, Y. M. (2013). Productivity-target difficulty, target-based pay, and outside-the-box thinking. The Accounting Review, 88(4), 1433-1457.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, which allows the sharing of the work and recognition of authorship and its initial publication in this journal. This license allows others to distribute, remix, adapt, or create derivative works, even for commercial purposes, provided credit is given for the original creation.
b)There is no financial compensation to the authors in any capacity, for articles published in RePEc.c) The articles published in RePEc are the sole responsibility of the authors.
