The Use and Effects of Accountability and Job Autonomy when Results Controls are Irrelevant: Substitutes or Complements?

Arnold, Markus C.; Posch, Arthur

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3673231

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 129 publications

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“…Beyond strategy research, our study also speaks to a literature in management accounting examining the uses and effects of action controls (Widener, Shackell and Demers 2008;Campbell, Epstein and Martinez-Jerez 2011;Merchant and Van der Stede 2017;Arnold and Posch 2020). This literature briefly mentions that MS serves as an action control, and finds that actions controls, such as accountability through exception reports, increase adherence to standards, and reduce heterogeneity in effort allocation (Campbell, Epstein and Martinez-Jerez 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Mystery Shopping as a Strategic Management Practice in Multi-Site Firms

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Mystery Shopping as a Strategic Management Practice in Multi-Site Firms

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Beyond strategy research, our study also speaks to the literature in management accounting examining the uses and effects of action controls (Widener, Shackell and Demers 2008;Campbell, Epstein and Martinez-Jerez 2011;Merchant and Van der Stede 2017;Arnold and Posch 2020). This literature briefly mentions that MS serves as an action control, and finds that action controls, such as accountability through exception reports, increase adherence to standards, and reduce heterogeneity in effort allocation (Campbell, Epstein and Martinez-Jerez 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Mystery Shopping as a Strategic Management Practice in Multi-Site Service Firms

et al. 2023

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Anonymous and unannounced site inspections known as "Mystery Shopping" (MS) are common in multi-site service firms, but little is known about the strategic importance of this practice. We conceptualize MS as a monitoring tool firms use to implement the optimal allocation of site resources between sales-and service-related activities in the presence of cross-site reputation spillovers, which is to maximize sales while maintaining service standards. Consistent with this view, data from three retail chains reveal (i) low variation in MS scores, (ii) little correlation of MS scores with sales, and iii) high correlation of sites' MS scores with the likelihood of their supervisors receiving incentive bonuses. Our findings are robust to different estimation specifications, and shed new light on a ubiquitous yet little-studied management practice.

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The Use and Effects of Accountability and Job Autonomy when Results Controls are Irrelevant: Substitutes or Complements?

Cited by 2 publications

References 129 publications

Mystery Shopping as a Strategic Management Practice in Multi-Site Firms

Mystery Shopping as a Strategic Management Practice in Multi-Site Firms

Mystery Shopping as a Strategic Management Practice in Multi-Site Service Firms

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