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The social embeddedness of management accounting and control practices : a case from a developing country

This thesis explores the influence of traditional institutions on dominant economic institutions and on formal organisational practices. The aim is to provide a cultural, political and economic explanation of management control practices in a rural Egyptian agro-manufacturing setting. It delineates the state of 'institutional complexity' in an organisational field. Exploring inherent political volatility at the macro level, the work also investigates political aspects of economic organisations and the intermediary role of individuals who deal with these institutions. Theoretically, it triangulates institutional logics and labour process theories, linking higher-order institutions with mundane labour practices observed in the case study. It shows how workers use cultural institutions in resisting management, and how various institutional logics interact in shaping the company's management control practices. The institutional logics perspective helps capture the heterogeneity in the organisation, and clarifies how management control practices may carry a range of cultural meanings. Methodologically, the thesis adopts a post-positivistic case study approach. Empirical data were solicited in a village community, where sugar beet farming and processing constitutes the main economic activity underlying its livelihood. This traditional communal setting enabled the researcher to capture the influence of multiple institutional logics on organisational practices. Data were collected through a triangulation of interviews, documents and observations. The thesis concludes that, especially in LDCs agro-manufacturing settings, societal institutions play a central role not only in the design and implementation of management control systems but also in the mobilisation of labour resistance. Control can be effectively practiced, and be resisted, through such social systems. This thesis affirms the influence of individual agency and subjectivity on institutional logics. It contributes to literature by investigating institutional logics in a traditional communal context, in contrast to the highly investigated Western contexts; depicting the state of 'institutional multiplicity' in the field; and providing an inclusive definition of the social in the area of management accounting.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:693266
Date January 2016
CreatorsDiab, Ahmed Abdelnaby Ahmed
PublisherUniversity of Aberdeen
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttp://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=230508

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