Unintended consequences of management control systems : a systematic review and conceptual framework

Haxhiu, Edona (author), Marc, Mojca (author)

Management control systems (MCS) are designed to support organizational goals and enhance performance; however, evidence increasingly points to their unintended and dysfunctional outcomes, collectively termed control problems. Despite growing attention, limited research systematically investigates how specific MCS types are associated with particular dysfunctional behaviors. To bridge this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review of 95 studies published in management, accounting and organizational behavior journals to examine how different MCS—result controls, action controls, personnel controls, and cultural controls—relate to distinct manifestations of control problems. Our findings reveal recurring patterns linking MCS types to dysfunctions such as gaming, data manipulation, ethical erosion, motivational crowding-out, and symbolic compliance. Furthermore, we identify recurring structural drivers associated with these problems, including excessive rigidity, contextual misfit, limited participation, and symbolic or inconsistent use of controls. Based on these insights, we develop an integrative conceptual framework that synthesizes plausible pathways through which control problems emerge, while highlighting the moderating role of contextual factors such as task uncertainty, professional norms, ethical leadership, external pressures, and organizational structure.

• Language: English
• Keywords: management, management and control, corporate culture, management control systems, control problems, dysfunctional behavior, object-of-control, organizational behavior, unintended consequences
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication status: In print
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-185050
• UDC: 658
• ISSN on article: 2191-4761
• DOI: 10.1007/s00187-026-00422-2
• COBISS.SI-ID: 283167491
• Publication date in RUL: 21.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of management control
• Shortened title: J. manag. control
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 2191-4761
• COBISS.SI-ID: 91689987

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: management, upravljanje, kultura podjetja

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0441
• Name: Regeneracija ekonomije in posla