Evaluating the influencing factors and effects of the digitalization of management control

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to investigate the influences on the digitalization of management control and the effects of this digitalization on management control tasks performed, management control instruments used and the organization of management control. Design/methodology/approach This empirical analysis is based on a survey of 189 management accountants and managers responsible for management control in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Logistic regression analyses were used to test the investigated effects. Findings This study finds that digital competencies, standardization of processes and data management contribute to the digitalization of management control. This study further finds that digitalization significantly increases the coverage of strategic and operational management control tasks and the use of operational management control instruments but not of strategic instruments. Originality This study investigates the influence of digitalization in management control on strategic and operational management control tasks, instruments and organizations. In contrast, prior research has focused on single aspects of management control or analyzed the impact on the entire company. This is also the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, to systematically identify potential influences on the digitalization of management control and analyze them empirically.