In this paper the authors developed new insights into how controllers collaborate with line managers and thereby shape strategic decision-making quality and speed. They introduced the concept of cognitive flexibility as an important characteristic of the controller-manager collaboration and hypothesized that the business partner role is positively related to cognitive flexibility in controller-manager collaboration, whereas the watchdog and scorekeeper roles are expected to have a negative association. Data collected through three surveys in the WHU Controller Panel empirically support these hypotheses for the business partner and scorekeeper roles. Furthermore, their results support the notion that cognitive flexibility in interpersonal collaboration is a key mechanism through which controller roles can influence strategic decision-making. Specifically, they find that the positive (negative) relation between the business partner (scorekeeper) role and the quality of strategic decisions is mediated by cognitive flexibility.
Management Accounting Research is a category 3 journal in the Academic Journal Guide.
Fourné S.P.L., Guessow, D., Margolin, M., Schäffer, U. (2023) Controllers and strategic decision-making: The role of cognitive flexibility in controller-manager collaboration, Management Accounting Research
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