This paper examines the relationship between subjectivity in performance evaluation and the three dimensions of justice perceptions in an emerging economy; prior research on this topic has primarily focused solely on the advanced capitalist economies of Western nations. The paper also aims to expand on existing research by focusing on the role of interactional justice perceptions in relation to subjective evaluation (Byrne et al. in Hum Resour Manag J 22(2):129–147; Folger and Cropanzano, in Organizational justice and human resource management, Sage, Thousand Oaks, 1998). Results from a survey of 160 middle managers in Vietnam indicate that subjective evaluation is associated predominantly with negative effects. We found that, in an emerging economy like that of Vietnam, subjective evaluation reduces interactional justice perception, which in turn decreases the perception of procedural and distributive justice. The mediating effects suggest that the reason subjective evaluation influences employee procedural/distributive justice perceptions lies in the interactional justice perceived from supervisors. This research clarifies the effects of subjective evaluation on the dimensions of justice perception and contributes to the literature on performance evaluation and organizational justice in a non-Western context. It also highlights the importance of respect and communication for fairness perception in both theory and practice.

Purpose Outsourcing of accounting increasingly attracts research interest, but research concerning the impact of the benefits of outsourcing on firm capabilities and performance across firms remains limited. This paper aims to reveal the unobservable latent classes of firms that outsource their accounting functions by testing a research model concerning the topic. Design/methodology/approach The authors build on accounting outsourcing research and adapt a research model from the literature on business services outsourcing. The authors analyze the data from 261 small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe using finite mixture structural equation modeling (FMSEM) and additional methods. Findings The authors reveal three latent classes with different research models. Thriving outsourcers (N = 103) have a positive attitude toward accounting outsourcing and associate competitive capabilities with mediating the relationship from outsourcing benefits to firm performance. Annoyed outsourcers (N = 143) are dissatisfied with their accounting service provider and only associate outsourcing benefits with competitive capabilities. Convenient outsourcers (N = 15) feel comfortable with their current accounting service provider and associate outsourcing benefits with neither capabilities nor with firm performance. Research limitations/implications The study initiates the discussion about the unobservable heterogeneity among accounting outsourcers. The study introduces the use of the FMSEM method in accounting outsourcing research. Practical implications The study offers novel insights concerning accounting outsourcers and proposes original explanations for their outsourcing decisions that would help both the outsourcers and accounting service providers. Originality/value The study might be the first to categorize accounting outsourcers using FMSEM.

Purpose This paper aims to explore controls within an inter-organisational relationship involving outsourced management accounting services from the contractor’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data from within the relationship are analysed in a legitimacy-theory framework, illustrating how controls within the relationship are intended to build the contractor’s legitimacy and what kinds of implications the controls have in relation to conflicts between interests inherent in the relationship. Findings The legitimacy perspective clarifies that while controls are aimed at ensuring efficiency for the client, they may also provide symbolic displays of the appropriateness of the contractor’s actions both at an inter-organisational level for the client and at an individual level for the contractor’s employees. While the contractor intends to build legitimacy with the client by demonstrating utility in the form of efficiency, the process also gives the client influence and allows the disposition in terms of shared values to be demonstrated. However, this process has some negative consequences for the contractor’s employees as it is insufficient for serving the boundary-spanning employees’ interests connected with the nature of their work. Hence, the same controls need to yield benefits and fair outcomes for employees. The controls simultaneously foster interconnections that contribute to permanence and formalise the outsourcing of complex services, thereby rendering such processes comprehensible and transferable to other settings, which can be seen to serve the contractor’s continuity interests. Originality/value The paper contributes to academic research by illustrating how controls within inter-organisational relationships not only steer boundary-spanners’ work to conform to a client’s needs but may also help to build legitimacy via symbolic properties in the presence of conflicting interests at both an inter-organisational and individual level. It specifically highlights the important role of boundary-spanners lower in the organisational structure, who both affect and are influenced by the intentions to build legitimacy with the client.

This study delves into the idea of data analytics and investigates the rhetoric through which its qualities are rendered accessible to people. It poses the following research question: How is data analytics and its relationship to organisations made attractive through rhetorical strategies? The analysis is based on 16 articles on data analytics published in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) from 2006 to 2020. Due to the analysis, two rhetorical strategies were identified: creativity and delegation. The findings suggested that contradictions prevail in the idea of data analytics. The creativity strategy underscores the illumination of possibilities in the application of data analytics, whereas the delegation strategy increasingly emphasises the need for organisational change, including the redistribution of work. In this study, we suggest that while data analytics can bring about various benefits, it can also create new uncertainties in an organisation. The contradictory features of data analytics may easily go unrecognised by practitioners.