Management accountants' roles in shaping long-term organisational values
University of Groningen Faculty of Economics and Business
MSc. Business Administration
Specialisation: Organisational and Management Control Nicole Gierga
s2031329
Supervisor: dr. E. P. Jansen Co-assessor: dr. H. J. van Elten
Words: 11,857
Groningen, The Netherlands, 20 January 2015
Abstract
Recent events in companies such as the bankruptcy of Enron have highlighted the connection between managers' short-term focus and the adverse impact on the value and health of companies. These events have prompted the need to find out how management accountants (MAs) may shape the long-term values of an organisation. A qualitative literature review was therefore conducted with the aim of scrutinising the evolvement of long-term orientation in individuals, and the roles of management accountants. The results obtained in this analysis suggest that MAs from long-term oriented countries prefer long-term oriented financial decisions. It seems that MAs may be primed towards a higher future orientation. Further, the emphasis on future goals by MAs may enhance the future orientation of managements' decisions. The Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) scale was one measurement that may be utilised for determining the fiscal responsibility of MAs and management. Finally, the evaluation showed that MAs with a strong present and future orientation have a positive influence on decreasing management's risky behaviour and increasing their long-term viable decisions. Methods should be developed to stimulate these capabilities in MAs that contribute to shaping the long-term orientation of the company and its long-term health.
Table of Contents
Chapter Page
1 Introduction 3
2 Methodology 6
2.1 Literature Review 6
2.1 Planning the Review 7
2.3 Conducting the Review 7
2.4 Execution of the Review 8
3 Analysis 9
3.1 Definitions and Constructs 9
3.2 Future orientation in childhood and adolescence and the influence of parenting 12 3.2.1 Prospection 12 3.2.1 Infancy 13 3.2.3 Early Childhood 13 3.2.4 Middle Childhood 14 3.2.5 Adolescence 14
3.2.6 Difference in time perception between adolescence and adulthood
15
3.2.7 Parenting 15
3.3 Future orientation in personality contexts, behaviour and identity 16
3.4 Risky behaviour 17
3.4.1 Needs and sensation seeking 17
3.4.2 Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) 18 3.5 Future orientation related to management accounting 19
3.5.1 Fiscal responsibility 19
3.5.2 Motivational psychology 19
3.5.3 Career and Performance 20
3.5.4 Temporal discounting 20
3.5.5 Expectancy-value theory 20
4 The role of management accountants 21
4.1.1 Education 22
4.2 The role of Management Accountants 22
4.3 Country comparison 24
4.3.1 China 24
4.3.2 United States 25
5 Discussion - The link between future orientation and management accountants' roles
26
5.1 Hofstede and World Values Survey 26
5.1.1 Education 26
5.2 Consideration of Future Consequences 27
5.3 Fiscal responsibility and CFC Discussion 28
5.3.1 Fiscal responsibility and CFC Practical suggestions 28
5.4 Risky behaviour 28
5.5 Future Implications 29
6 Conclusion 30
1. Introduction
“My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there” Charles Kettering (as quoted in Boyd, 1957) The importance of the future as an area of interest has been aptly recognized by Charles Kettering because it is crucial to understand how people construct their future in view of recent events. These events such as the bankruptcies of Enron and WorldCom, are related to the problem of self-control which leads individuals to focus on short-term over long-term rewards (Rachlin, 1995). The lack of managers' self-control and the focus on short-term rewards had serious implications for these companies as it led to illegal practices which resulted in company value destruction and high losses (Fuller & Jensen, 2002; Jensen, 2005). Managers' interest in the future was clouded by their more immediate concern for the present.
These large organisations can be a risk for the stability of the financial system when their own options or equity are not valued correctly (Bank for International Settlements, 2006). Nevertheless, expectations of favourable performance, lower transaction costs and risk diversification (Hagendorff, Collins, & Keasey, 2007) and the assumption that financial markets are self regulating (De Grauwe, 2008) have led to a neglect of anticipating problems in the banking sector, and destabilization.
Markets are expected to control the agency problem, which is the alignment of interests between owners and managers as the latter do not always act in favour of the owners. In securities markets, however, the market can create more conflicts than solve them (Jensen, 2005) and does not work efficiently. For control reasons and to align the interests of managers and owners targets are set for managers to achieve. Since managers are paid for fulfilling their targets they are also prone to manipulate those targets.
All this has an influence on managers' future orientation which is an important aspect in their work behaviour. Therefore, it is essential to understand how future orientation is formed. The events at Enron have revealed the tension between the future view of managers and a company's performance. The future view of individuals has been researched extensively. Concerning people's attitude towards rewards, it has been shown that with an increase in temporal distance to rewards, their subjective value decreases, hence they discount the value across temporal delays (Schultz, 2010). Furthermore, an influence of an individual's attitude towards risk on her or his perception of the attractiveness of a risky reward has been demonstrated by Schultz.
near future decisions are reflected in secondary values. Similarly, people are expected to behave more consistently in the distant rather than near future, and predictions about their behaviour in the distant future can be related to their personal characteristics (Wakslak, Nussbaum, Liberman, & Trope, 2008). Additionally, values are more readily applied to distant situations and better reflect the individual's intentions (Eyal, Sagristano, Trope, Liberman, & Chaiken, 2009). Eyal et al. (2009) found that moral criteria are more likely to influence people's judgement of distant behaviours. Hence values which are related to the future can be analysed on a temporal dimension.
Nakahara and Kaveri (2010) have constructed a temporal difference framework which investigates the neural basis for value-based decision making and reward-oriented behaviour (p. 3062). They argue that “the unit of time specifically used for neural valuation (internal time) is different from that of conventional time” (p. 3093). The development of future orientation has been covered from an ecological perspective by Seginer (2009). The terms future orientation and long-term orientation are used interchangeably in the report.
One approach to study values oriented towards the future is based on culture. Hofstede for instance identified the dimension of long-term orientation (Hofstede & Bond, 1988; Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). An alternative way to describe culture is based on general beliefs, or social axioms (Leung, Au, Huang, Kurman & Niit, 2007). Kurman (2011) described values as desirable goals, while social axioms are ways to achieve these goals. Likewise, Hui and Hui (2009) defined values in terms of “outcomes desired by an individual, (while) beliefs define the likelihood with which a target object associates with a particular outcome” (p. 17). For that reason, not only the long-term orientation of individuals related to cultural values needs to be examined but also their formation as mental processes (Seginer, 2009) on the individual level.
The relationship between manager's long-term orientation and management accounting has not been covered extensively yet and clear relationships have not been found. So far the topic of how management accounting systems, especially budgeting, alone and in combination with the corporate context influences the behaviour and attitudes of managers has been analysed (Hofstede, 1968; Merchant, 1981; Jones & Euske, 1991). As different accounting systems are used worldwide, Guilding, Cravens and Tayles (2000) for instance have focused on an international comparison.
could be seen in the case of Enron and WorldCom. The managers in these companies were focusing on short-term gains and neglected long-term planning.
Consequently and in order to understand how managers' future orientation is formed, this paper will analyse literature about the concept and to connect it to management accountants' roles. Management accountants can have a substantial influence on a company's management (Lambert & Sponem, 2012). Therefore, an approach that targets the formation of managers' long-term values that are favourable for the company in the long run might be a method to understand and monitor managers' behaviour and prevent incidences like Enron from happening. Even though many psychological studies have discussed the concept of long-term orientation, there has been very little literature and research on the topic of management accounting. In this paper, several literature fields will be combined.
The purpose of the present review is to investigate the following issues:
How can management accountants contribute to shaping the long-term values of an organisation?
To arrive at propositions which aim at answering the main research question, first the evolvement of individual's long-term values needs to be scrutinised and will be answered in the first sub-question which is:
What contributes to the formation of individual's long-term orientation (future orientation) over time and how can it be characterised?
The second and third sub-questions are related to the theoretical foundation of the development of long-term values and the influence of personality on them. A theoretical background is essential to include in the review as it elaborates the basis on which authors argue their findings. Differences between findings might be explained by diverging theories. Theoretical approaches to future orientation will be discussed including Self-theory, Goal theory and Identity formation (Seginer, 2009).
Which theories can be related to the development of long-term values?
weighted differently depending on the nationality and cultural background of the individual. Additionally, by including possible developmental differences the findings of this research are more complex. In the academic literature the topic of different long-term values has been dealt with, their development on the other hand has not been covered. The fourth sub-question will be analysed using China and the United States as examples:
To what extent are management accountants' roles influenced by the long- or short-term values of a country?
The paper is structured as follows. In the second chapter, the method of literature collection will be specified. The selected articles will be analysed in the third chapter which is divided in themes contributing to an individual's long-term orientation formation. Thereafter in chapter four introducing management accountants' roles, long-term values on a country level are discussed. Moving on to management accountants' roles these are reviewed in the same chapter and are also compared on a country level, namely in China and the United States. Concluding the analysis will be the discussion of the findings and of the relation between management accountants and their influence in shaping long-term organisational values. Finally, the last chapter is the conclusion. The paper aims to further our understanding of how management accountants can shape the long-term values of an organisation.
2. Methodology 2. 1 Literature review
2.2 Planning the review
In the first stage of planning, the research problem and its significance are discussed. For a management review, the procedure does not have to be planned in detail and may be adjusted during the course of research. Any changes in the procedure have to be mentioned in writing to facilitate reproducibility. At this stage the data source is determined. From the resulting articles, references can be searched for further matching articles. In the end around 40 to 50 articles will be selected for the study.
2.3 Conducting the review
In the second stage of conducting the review, the key terms to use during the data search are established. The key terms identified in this paper comprise for instance: long-term orientation, future time perspective, future orientation / focus, long-term values and correlated terms such as future outlook, future motivation and long-term ambition or attitude. By defining the terms in advance, the literature search is more objective (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010). Data can be collected from published and unpublished articles, databases, government reports and historical records. For this thesis primarily articles published in journals are included because they have been reviewed prior to publication. According to Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Bacharach and Podsakoff (2005), these journals are expected to have validated knowledge and impact in the academic field.
Besides the aforementioned point of controllability, other aspects of quality criteria are reliability and validity (Swanborn, 1996; Yin, 1994). Validity of research presupposes that the way it is generated is justified (Audi, 1998). Reliability stands for being able to depend on the results. This is achieved if the study can be replicated by other researchers (Yin, 2003; Swanborn, 1996). These issues are addressed by clearly specifying which steps are taken during this review and which literature is included for what rationale.
The selection of published journals will improve the data quality, as issues within one field of knowledge are explored (Popay, Rogers, & Williams, 1998). All the literature used is included in the reference list of the review. The scope of the research includes two fields of study. First, for the field of future orientation, mainly sociological, psychological, developmental, and risk and resilience literature will be employed. Second, for the roles of management accountants, literature from the field of economics will be utilised.
limiting bias (Mulrow, 1994). Still quality check lists should be used with caution (Sandelowski, Docherty, & Emden, 1997) as they may influence the selection of articles. For this reason, the researcher should specify why certain articles are excluded (Tranfield et al., 2003). After an initial selection of relevant papers, the list is checked for duplicates and further refined by excluding too narrowly focused articles, for instance (Crossan & Apaydin, 2010). At this point, selection criteria should be applied to filter out pertinent articles.
Papers were omitted because they did not focus on the search term “future orientation” or “long-term orientation”, but for instance on “orientation over time”. Other papers fit the topic of long-term or future orientation but they were published before 2004.
The time frame of the articles from the field of psychology chosen for analysis is between 2004 and 2014. References to older articles are included nonetheless if they are mentioned in newer articles and contribute to understanding the topic at hand. The same time period holds for articles about the roles of management accountants and supporting literature.
As raw data is often not available for review, the literature review will concentrate on the conclusion and findings reached by the authors (Clarke & Oxman, 2001). A reanalysis of the raw data is not feasible and not the focus of this review. A challenge of literature reviews is that it is difficult to specify high quality articles. Often researchers infer the quality of an article from the journal it has been published in (Tranfield et al., 2003, p.216). As a way to lessen the implications from such a selection, data-extraction forms can be used (Clarke & Oxman, 2001) such as the forms from the Cochrane Collaboration. The forms will not be used in this review because they mainly focus on medical research.
2.4 Execution of the review
3. Analysis
The analysis is divided in several parts starting with a definition of long-term or future orientation and the aspects it can include. Subsequently, the evolvement of future orientation in childhood and the effect of parenting is described. Next the influencing variables of personality contexts on future-orientation is analysed. Afterwards, the relation between an individual's inclination to risky behaviour and future orientation is scrutinised. The analysis section closes with constructs and theories that can be used to connect management accounting and future orientation. Research sub-questions one, two and three are answered in this part.
They were respectively:
1. What contributes to the formation of individual's long-term orientation (future orientation) over time and how can it be characterised?,
2. Which theories can be related to the development of long-term values?, and
3. To what extent does personality have an influence on an individual's long-term values?. Sub-question four is dealt with in chapter four.
In this part sub-question two is answered. In the beginning of research on an individual's future orientation, the focus was primarily on the mediating effects of cultural and social settings, and gender (Nurmi, 1991; Trommsdorff, 1983). Factors linked to personal relationships and aspects were not covered (Seginer & Lilach, 2004, p.626). A distinction has been made between time perspective which relates to the past or future, and time orientation which focuses on the chronological or reverse order of events. In more detail, “time relation” differs between the time periods, past, present and future, which an individual can perceive as interrelated (Mello, 2013). Understanding the relatedness of actions and experiences of the past to the present and future contributes to a forward-looking attitude. A relation to several time periods is possible. The term most frequently employed in this analysis is future orientation as it encompasses the expectations and actions an individual has for the future (Nurmi, 2005). This term has first been coined by Trommsdorff (1983) and Nurmi (1991/1993).
3.1 Definitions and constructs
seen as thematic since images are bundled in categories, and it is multidimensional. They include motivational, cognitive and behavioural aspects in their definition with aspects affecting each other. Several goal-directed constructs have been associated with the term future or long-term orientation. They incorporate the consideration and assessment of future self representation (Seligman, Railton, Baumeister, & Sripada, 2013). These constructs include future time perspective (Nuttin & Lens, 1985; Lens, Paixao, Herrera, & Grobler, 2012), expectations (Gottfredson, 1981) and future orientation (Nurmi, 1991). Additionally, aspirations (Beal & Crockett, 2010), possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986; Cross & Markus, 1991; Oyserman, Bybee, & Terry, 2006), and goals (Austin & Vancouver, 1996) have been connected to the term.
Future time perspective which is a cognitive motivational construct (Lens et al., 2012) refers to the temporal orientation of individuals' aspirations and actions (Henson, Carey, Carey, & Maisto, 2006) and has motivational consequences (de Bilde, Vansteenkiste, & Lens, 2011). The psychological time orientation can be split into parts relating to the past, present, and future (Lens et al., 2012). This is overlapping with Nuttin (2014) who described time orientation as the preferential direction of an individual's behaviour. It can be directed towards the past, present and / or future. Experiences guide individuals in establishing a plan to reach their wishes. Generally, it can be said that long-term orientation stands in contrast to short-term orientation which focuses on the immediate future and short-term gains.
A distant future orientation of individuals has been related to an increased ability to plan into the future and be aware of the implication current behaviour has for the future (Lens et al., 2012). These long-term oriented actions have a higher instrumentality (Husman & Shell, 2008). The utility value of present actions, which is their usefulness for reaching present and future goals, is hence increasing (Lens, Paixão, & Herrera, 2009). The definition of future time perspective by Lens et al. (2012) can be found in the thematic approach by Seginer (2009) to future orientation.
Constructs such as possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986) represent “positive and negative images of the self already in a future state” (Oyserman et al., 2006, p. 188). “Possible selves” signifies how an individual sees itself based on external attributes, for example intelligence and speed, and these attributes are used as a guideline for expected future behaviour. The construct includes the three cognitions hoped-for -, expected -, and feared-for selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986) which are all related to the future. The hoped-for self portraits images of oneself that are seen as eligible, whereas expected selves are more realistic images. Feared-for selves are negative images of oneself in the future that an individual wants to avoid. Future orientation for possible selves is the affect and content of a future state.
in future orientation. Moreover, aspirations and expectations (Gottfredson, 1981; Messersmith & Schulenberg, 2008) have been linked to future orientation. They include multiple cognitions and comparison thereof formed by one's experiences and knowledge (Gottfredson, 1981). Future orientation as a multidimensional process consisting of the three elements of planning, motivation and evaluation has been drawn up by Nurmi (1989).
Lens et al. (2012) split the properties of goals into two parts, one related to their content and the other to their temporal localisation. Goals can be formulated in the near or distant future. Individuals who have a long distance future orientation experience the intermediate future as closer than do individuals with a short distance future orientation (Lens & Moreas, 1994). Rachlin (1995) found that the value of an incentive decreases over time. Still, the difference in time perception between short- and long-term inclined individuals persists with regard to incentive values. Individuals who are inclined towards the long term see a less steep decrease in an incentive's value compared to short-term inclined individuals. The reason for the difference is that the perceived distance is shorter for long-term oriented individuals.
Building on the classical values theories of Rokeach (1973) and Schwartz (1992) future values are abstract beliefs about future behavioural approaches and end states. These values create abiding beliefs which are influencing an individual's behaviour (Rokeach, 1973; Schwartz, 1992) and they also guide his or her attitudes (Grube, Mayton, & Ball-Rokeach, 2010). Based on the classical theories, 10 basic individual values have been identified (Schwartz, 1992) and 36 universal values (Rokeach, 1973). These values are seen to be the fundamental parts of an individual's identity (Hitlin, 2003).
3.2 Future orientation in childhood and adolescence and the influence of parenting In this part research sub-question one is discussed: What contributes to the formation of individual's long-term orientation (future orientation) over time and how can it be characterised?
Research has demonstrated how future orientation emerges during childhood and adolescence. This time period has the function to act as preparation for adult life (Erikson, 1968). It is a time period in which adolescents reflect on their future goals, goals related to life and more specifically to their education and career, and on how these goals can be achieved (Nurmi, 1991/ 1993). Lewin came up with the term “psychological future” which encompasses the motivational power of future perceptions on present behaviour (Lewin, 1942/1948; Seginer, 2009). In order for these perceptions to be influential, they do not need to be accurate but they are nonetheless valuable during adolescents' preparation for adulthood (Lewin, 1942/1948).
The overlap between adolescents' development of future orientation and identity has been recognised by several authors (Dunkel, 2000; Nurmi, 2004). Likewise, it has been found that emerging adulthood and college have an impact on identity and future orientation (Luyckx, Goossens, & Soenens, 2006; Waterman, 1993). The extent to which adolescents are connected to their family and school has a positive influence on how future orientation is experienced by them (Crespo, Jose, Kielpikowski, & Pryor, 2013). A strong future orientation is shaped by these variables as they constitute supportive relationships and a sense of security. Researchers agree that the future orientation of adolescents is connected to positive psychosocial outcomes (Crespo et al., 2013) and is being impacted by numerous factors. These are personal and consensual such as ethnic background, family, gender and school (Nurmi, 1991/1993; Seginer, 2009).
3.2.1 Prospection
Prospection is part of adolescents growing up. It is the process of structuring their goals and actions around their reflection on their future (Gilbert & Wilson, 2007; Seligman, Railton, Baumeister, & Sripada, 2013). It is defined as the “ability to pre-experience the future by simulating it in our minds” (Gilbert & Wilson, 2007, p. 1352). Hence, when pre-experiencing the future it is called simulation, and in the present the process is called perception. Experiences of the past are called memory. In a simulation unrepresentative memories often form the basis (Gilbert & Wilson, 2007). It is not the typical situation that is remembered but the best or worst situation. Hence, it is being overrepresented. Situations that happened recently are more likely to be remembered as are unusual events.
features while omitting inessential features (Gilbert & Wilson, 2007). This leads to more extreme simulations (Liberman, Sagristano, & Trope, 2002) as contextual factors are left out. The further distant the event is in time, the more inessential features are omitted (Trope & Liberman, 2003). The increased time distance can explain why individuals make future commitments easily. Individuals with an impaired prefrontal cortex have difficulties in simulating future events (Tulving, Schacter, McLachlan, & Moscovitch, 1988; Tulving, 1985; Klein, Loftus, & Kihlstrom, 2002). In children prospection only appears when they are three or four years old (Atance & O'Neill, 2005). 3.2.2 Infancy
Seginer (2009) studied the development of future orientation from childhood to adolescence. During infancy (ages zero to one or two) babies could anticipate spacial location events as early as when they were two months old which has been interpreted as an early form of future orientation (Haith, 1994/1997; Adler & Haith, 2003). Over time the anticipatory behaviour improves which is still prior to the verbal period. Anticipatory behaviour in babies has the function to increase information processing, provides them with a sense of control (Seginer, 2009). The relevance of Haith's claims however, has not been proven yet.
3.2.3 Early Childhood
The difference between infancy and early childhood is that children acquire language skills in the latter. The early childhood period spans ages three to eight. During this time period children develop a feeling for time and time patterns (Friedman, 2005) and develop the capability to verbally express time (Hudson, 2006). In order for children to develop a sense for future orientation, they need to have knowledge of time (Suddendorf & Corballis, 2007). Several ways lead to the acquisition of that knowledge with one being the children's sense of the future and time. First, children have to differentiate between the past and the future. This can be complicated by them not yet fully understanding temporal terms (Nelson, 1996). Children's knowledge of future events can be tested by letting them arrange activities in a temporal order (Friedman, 1990) and around the time when they reach first grade, they are able to arrange them correctly. Second, when children reach the age of 9, so middle childhood, they can judge the duration of an activity. And lastly, during that time they can also estimate time distance.
the relationship with parents and culture shape a child's future orientation (Seginer, 2009). 3.2.4 Middle Childhood
In middle childhood which is from age nine to eleven, children have the ability to coherently narrate a story (Seginer, 2009) and understand the meaning of hopes and fears. The hopes and fears children list when being asked about the future are increasing in number with age (McCallion & Trew, 2000). Children in this age bracket imagine the future as a combination of events and narratives which are based on reality and fantasy (Gelberg, 1996). These are their hopes for the future, and their fears are expressed in a similar fashion. With age, narratives about the future become more realistic. Most future hopes and fears change during childhood, except for those related to work and career. During middle childhood hopes about school and education can be positively linked to academic achievement. Fears are less differentiated by age than hopes, and an age related shift from existential to prospective life course narratives can be observed (Seginer, 2009). Regarding self-esteem development in children, it is increasing conjointly with future orientation (Gelberg, 1996).
3.2.5 Adolescence
The stage of adolescence is from the age eleven until age 18. Luyckx et al. (2010) found a time-consistent mutually dependent relationship between identity formation and time perception in college students. Similarly, cognitions which are future-oriented have been brought into context with identity development (Dunkel, 2000; Nurmi, 2004) during emerging adulthood (Luyckx, Goossens, & Soenens, 2006; Waterman, 1993). The future time perspective in college students indicated identity commitment and was predicted by their information-oriented style. An information-oriented style can be exhibited in individuals who have a focus on using relevant information in constructing their sense of identity. Future-oriented individuals can be portrayed as actively investing in their future which shows in their determined work attitude (Boniwell & Zimbardo, 2004; Husman & Lens, 1999). At the same time they gradually form identity commitments (Luyckx et at., 2010).
3.2.6 Difference in time perception between adolescence and adulthood
Siu, Lam, Le and Przepiorka (2014) used the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory to study the differences in time perception. They found that adolescents are more inclined to underestimate time compared to older (age 60-70) test subjects for whom the opposite time estimation holds true (Siu et al., 2014). Abstract cognitive tasks evoke a higher degree of future orientation in adults aged 17 to 25 when they holistically process those exercises (Thomas et al., 2007). Older adults though produce a less pronounced future-oriented perspective.
3.2.7 Parenting
Parents are expected to support future-oriented behaviour and goals in their children. The behaviour of children who do not conform to their parents' expectations and norms of others are seen as presenting a present-hedonistic orientation. They show a high interest in novelty and have little control over their impulses. In case individuals feel like they have no substantial influence on the course of their life and see it as predetermined, individuals display a present-fatalistic orientation (D’Alessio, Guarino, De Pascalis, & Zimbardo, 2003; Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999).
Besides peer relationships, the relationship of adolescents to their parents, especially their mother has received consideration (Laursen & Collins, 2009). Seginer and Shoyer (2012) have found an indirect effect of a mother's future orientation via the self-esteem of adolescents on their children’s future orientation. The future orientation of the adolescents and their mother has three components. These are motivational, cognitive representation, and behavioural engagement.
The background of Seginer's and Shoyer's (2012) study was threefold, first they considered that parents become more concerned about their children’s future during their adolescence and aim to exert influence on it. Second, this influencing behaviour is carried out through communication. The last consideration was that given many adolescents spend more time with their mothers and disclose more information to them, the study focused solely on the relation of children to their mother and not to the father. From early on, mothers spend part of their time talking to their children, even before they are able to verbally understand them. With increasing age of the child, more time is devoted to speaking to them both about the future and the present (Seginer, 2009).
In this part the question What contributes to the formation of individual's long-term orientation (future orientation) over time and how can it be characterised? was dealt with. The environment of a child has an influence on the evolvement of future orientation in children and adults. An important part of that environment are their parents. For future orientation to develop it takes several years and involves the acquisition of language and an understanding for time.
3.3 Future orientation in personality contexts, behaviour and identity
In this part and the next about risky behaviour an answer is given to the third sub-question: To what extent does personality have an influence on an individual's long-term orientation?
Future orientation has emerged in research as a variable that has an influence on personality and the identity of individuals. Löckenhoff, Terracciano, Patriciu, Eaton, and Costa (2009) studied the change in personality of persons after these experienced an extremely horrifying event. They found that 25% of the participants reported having experienced such an event during the duration of the study. It could be measured that the participants had an increase in neuroticism and generally a lower mental health compared to persons who did not experience a horrifying event. The decrease in mental health has its origins in the lowered value of agreeableness and openness to values.
Aspects of being future-oriented include conscientiousness, ambitions and a consideration of future consequences of actions and behaviour (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). These aspects describe an individual's identity and behaviour, and shape it. Conscientiousness in the field of time perspective means that one strongly relates to the future (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). It has been revealed that an information-oriented identity style and identity commitment are related future orientation (Luyckx, Lens, Smits, & Goossens, 2010).
The Western media have an effect on identity development of adolescents from the Middle East (Schulenberg, Sameroff, & Cicchetti, 2004). One effect is a decreasingly straight path into adulthood for adolescents from this area. However, future-related stress, such as finding work in the future, is a relevant subject for adolescents from all over the world and is regarded as more stressful than romantic stressors or identity-related stress (Seiffge-Krenke et al., 2010).
been revealed for self-esteem but not for hope. Nonetheless, contrary to their initial hypothesis present-future orientated individuals had the highest self-esteem.
Similar to the concept of prospection examined in the previous chapter, which dealt with pre-experiencing the future in one's mind to guide behaviour, Lewin (1935) proposed that current actions are mainly caused by present variables which he termed “principle of contemporaneity”. Extending his proposition, Nuttin (2014) showed that past and future events influence and determine behaviour as they appear on the cognitive level. He posits that on a representational, or cognitive level, past and present variables form an individual's time perspective. Hence, these objects do not solely have a bearing on, or reflect the present behaviour but also become part of the representational act.
Seginer and Lilach (2004) looked into how future orientation of adolescents is affected by the variables loneliness, gender and prospective life domains. The findings of their study show that loneliness in adolescents is related to a lower score on near future and relational variables. An effect was encountered exclusively for motivational variables. Cognitive representation and behavioural variables were found to have no concluding (direct) effect. Loneliness has been linked to self-criticism and self-efficacy with the first constituting a positive link and the second a negative link (Wiseman, 1997). It was further found that negative outcomes were feared primarily by lonely individuals compared to socially embedded individuals (Cacciopo et al., 2000). Lonely individuals were also more likely to experience insecurity and mistrust in personal relationships. With regard to reaching out for help or support, these individuals would apt to withdraw socially instead.
3.4 Risky behaviour
Regarding an individual's inclination towards risky behaviour, research has established a connection to future orientation. Mello et al. (2013) suggest that time orientation and relation are affiliated to risky behaviour. They discovered that a solely present or future orientation in individuals presents an indication for more risky behaviour. Conversely, individuals who focus on the present and future show the least inclination towards risky behaviour. Furthermore, a high discernment of interconnected time periods, namely between the past, present and future, in adolescents points towards the least risky behaviour. More risky behaviour is connotative to a lack of differentiation between time periods.
3.4.1 Needs and sensation seeking
experience. These are aspired to be fulfilled as soon as possible which leads individuals to pay attention primarily to the present consequences of their behaviour. Thus, the risks their behaviour can pose for the future are neglected. Further, they can be distracted by past solicitudes. The result of such short-term attitude has been coupled to mental health and substance abuse problems (Keough, Zimbardo, & Boyd, 1999; Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999).
Robbins and Bryan (2004) link sensation seeking to future orientation. They propose that a positive future orientation has a diminishing effect on taking drugs and consuming alcohol, for instance. Higher impulsive sensation-seeking behaviour has been projected by them to alcohol problems and use, and smoking but it can be seen in financial behaviour as well. These habits pose a risk to the individual. The power to anticipate potential negative consequences of one's behaviour can counter presently occurring impulsive behaviours (Keough et al., 1999).
3.4.2 Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC)
The Consideration of Future Consequences scale, is a 12-item scale with 2 factors and 2 scores to measure differences in future orientation (Strathman, Gleicher, Boninger, & Edwards, 1994), and has previously been used to assess behaviour. It focuses on the extent to which individuals account for future and immediate consequences of their action and how this in turn is influencing their current actions (Strathman et al., 1994). Individuals who score high on the scale are said to be more conscious about the implications of their behaviour for the future. They value achievements in the future more than in the present and are willing to forgo immediate benefits. The opposite holds for individuals who score low on the CFC scale. However, scoring high on the scale might either mean that the individual is only concerned about the future and not about immediate consequences, or that both time periods are of concern.
3.5 Future orientation related to management accounting
Future orientation is influenced by the previously mentioned variables and they have been predominantly measured in adolescents and children. The study by Seginer and Shoyer (2012) revealed that the model of future orientation can be employed for adults as well. Therefore, based on the premise that future orientation is relatively consistent, its relation to management accounting can be analysed.
3.5.1 Fiscal responsibility
Using the CFC scale in their study about individual's fiscal spending behaviour related to impulsive buying and credit card management, Joireman, Sprott and Spangenberg (2005) suggest that a low CFC score is related to higher impulsive buying behaviour and temporal discounting. Further, they found out that given the opportunity to allocate an unanticipated amount of money, individuals scoring high in CFC invest this money in long-term options. The opposite holds for individuals scoring low in CFC and their behaviour is enforced by a prior high debt level which in turn did not influence individuals high in CFC. Therefore, they conclude that individuals scoring high in CFC are fiscally more responsible as they focus on the future consequences of their spending behaviour compared to their counterparts.
3.5.2 Motivational psychology
In motivational psychology a difference has been drawn between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation means that one does an activity to reach a goal that is not the activity itself. Intrinsic motivation in comparison is achieved from doing the activity itself, which is the goal. In life these two types of motivation often occur simultaneously (Abreu, 2002; Lens, 2001).
A lack of motivation is often akin to intrinsic motivation (Lens et al., 2009). To combat a lack of motivation, extrinsic rewards can be employed which create an extrinsic motivation for the individual but this kind of reward reduces intrinsic motivation. As these rewards focus solely on the extrinsic side, intrinsic rewards such as informative rewards can be utilised. This has the added value that intrinsic motivation is reinforced. Hence, the effect of rewards on individuals' behaviour can be either controlling or rewarding (Nuttin & Greenwald, 1968). Another kind of extrinsic motivation is instrumental motivation. It stands for present action that is motivated by future goals (Lens et al., 2009).
and obligations in the future (Lens & Tsuzuki, 2007) and they can both be motivated intrinsically and extrinsically.
3.5.3 Career and Performance
Related to motivational psychology, future orientation has been found to positively predict career maturity (Pieterse & Grobler, 2005) which encompasses areas such as career planning and information, and decision-taking. Additionally, a higher rate of success in the academic world and in their careers was found for individuals with a future orientation in comparison to their counterparts (Simons, Vansteenkiste, Lens, & Lacante, 2004). Conversely, present orientation is negative predictor of career maturity. With regard to adolescents' attitude, future orientation has been linked to high motivation and a positive attitude towards school (Kritzas & Grobler, 2007). The ability to connect time periods has a positive influence on academic achievement (Mello et al., 2013). Due to a differential allocation of cognitive resources, a long-term time perspective has been associated with task performance (Nowack, Milfont, & van der Meer, 2013). Hence, these studies illustrate the positive connotation between future orientation and academic performance.
In order to motivate adolescents to learn in school, an intrinsic achievement goal orientation (AGO) in combination with future goals should be chosen by teachers (Lee, McInerney, Liem, & Ortiga, 2010). An intrinsic AGO deals with topics oriented towards one's career, family and society. Extrinsic future goals are oriented towards fame and wealth.
3.5.4 Temporal discounting
Temporal discounting refers to the value reduction of rewards towards the future. Steinberg et al. (2009) have found that it is inversely related to age. A positive relationship has been detected between CFC immediate and temporal discounting (Joireman, Balliet, Sprott, Spangenberg, & Schultz, 2008). They also state that the immediate concern for the future dimension is a better predictor of self-control. Ego-depletion describes the idea that self-control can only be exercised in one domain whereas it will be lower in other domains as energy can only be used selectively. It prompts temporal discounting to increase in individuals who are CFC immediate concerned.
3.5.5 Expectancy-value theory
orientation and academic achievement is facilitated by the feeling and understanding of the interrelation between time periods which increases student motivation (Mello et al., 2013). An orientation solely towards one or two dimensions does not influence academic performance positively. All three dimensions, the past, present and future, need to be considered for them to constitute a positive influence (Mello et al., 2013).
4. The role of management accountants 4.1 Hofstede – Long-term orientation
After discussing future orientation on an individual level, this part gives an overview about Hofstede's national value dimension 'long-term orientation'. This dimension is drawn upon to connect chapter 3 about future orientation with the role of management accountants in this chapter. Long-term orientation in Hofstede's work refers to national values, and the term was coined by him in 1991. Minkov (2007) replicated his study with samples of 93 countries. Originally, the dimension was only found after the researcher Bond controlled for the Western cultural bias in a survey by letting his Chinese colleges amend the questions to include their basic cultural values (Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). The survey was conducted in 23 countries. The outcome of the revised questions yielded surprising results. Most of Hofstede's dimensions were found in the survey, however, one dimension was different from the previous results. It was the dimension related to long- and short-term orientation which is based on Confucius' teachings. His teachings include aspects such as persistence, thrift, ordering relationship by status, and having a sense of shame (Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). Additionally, the opposite factors on the dimension comprise reciprocation, respect for traditions, protecting one's 'face', and personal stability. In 1991, Hofstede included 'long-term versus short-term orientation' as one of the dimensions to his framework as it showed a correlation to economic growth (Hofstede & Minkov, 2010).
4.1.1 Education
Hofstede (2001) found a correlation between students' skills in mathematics and long-term orientation. He made use of data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study from 1999. The data revealed that students who came from Asian countries scored significantly higher than students from short-term oriented countries.
A possible explanation for these results has been given by Minkov (2007, 2008). He argued that in cultures which place an emphasis on self-enhancement, the drive to self-improvement in children is reduced. An action that can be regarded as part of improvement is education. Nonetheless, self-improvement can also be seen as an action that is promoted in other cultures. In these cultures, effort is identified as the main driver of success.
4.2 The role of Management Accountants
The role of management accountants (MAs) is to look forward in comparison to financial accountants who concentrate more on the past, and they have mainly internal users in contrast to financial accountants who have external users (Fok, quoted in Russel, 2014). MAs' roles have been associated with focusing on controlling topics such as compliance reporting, and on problem solving (Hopper, 1980; Sathe, 1983). Further, MAs' roles have been changing and this has been attributed to several factors such as developments in technology and its increased usage, and a change in the competitive environment.
Emsely (2005) wrote about how MAs' roles have changed. However, there is not a clear picture yet on whether MAs are moving towards the direction of a business partner or if they remain mainly a 'bean counter'. According to Vaivio (2006) most research conducted so far has supported the notion of MAs as bean counters.
MAs can also take the role of controllers. Ouchi (1979) identified three social requirements of control. These are the norm of reciprocity, legitimate authority and social agreement. The norm of reciprocity means that all members in a social system have to uphold the values of it, otherwise it will dissolve. Legitimate authority relates to the support parties enjoy within the system. And finally, social agreement pertains to values and beliefs. The different roles of the controller have been defined as scorekeeping, attention-directing or problem-solving (Simon et al., 1955; op cit. Lambert & Sponem, 2012). These roles are evolving from a bookkeeping role to a decision-making facilitator.
control of organisational management's behaviour. The second style, safeguarding focuses on the socialisation of managers. MAs as partners help in facilitating decision making at a local level. They assume strong authority. Lastly, an omnipotent function of MAs indicates their centralisation of power with headquarters as their client.
An overview of the four different styles can be found below in a table taken from Lambert and Sponem (2012, p. 572). OM stands for “Operational Managers” and MA for “Management Accountant”.
Table 1 – Summary of different Management Accountants' Styles taken from Lambert and Sponem, 2012, p.572
relevance for MAs is that they are expected to possess such leadership skills while teaching new accountants and the persons they are reporting to. People they report to to enhance their decision making process include for instance the CEO and the board of directors.
Byrne and Pierce (2007) analysed the antecedents, characteristics and consequences of management accountants' roles. They found that the role of MAs is mainly influenced by themselves. Further, a role conflict between organisational managers and MAs facilitates the effective control of MAs. The authors suggest that MAs are increasingly adopting the role of a business partner compared to the former position as primarily 'crunching numbers'. This shift is necessary for them to become engaged in and have influence on corporate decision making.
Clinton and White (2012) studied in a survey the change in MAs' roles between 2003 and 2012 with a focus on the fundamental changes, the impact of technology, and tools which fulfil changing values related to accounting. They state that the change in MAs' roles was mediated by events such as the introduction of the International Financial Reporting Standards, the financial crisis in 2008, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of compliance, and the creation of the Chartered Global Management Accountant.
4.3 Country comparison
As mentioned by Hofstede, countries express varying levels of long- or short-term orientation. A country high in long-term orientation is China, and on the opposite side of the scale the United States are more short-term oriented. In the following, the roles of management accountants in each of the two countries will be described to give an indication of how long- and short-term orientation shows in their practices today. This relates to the research question: To what extent are management accountants' roles influenced by the long- or short-term values of a country?
4.3.1 China
minimise costs. Before costs and profit had been fixed by the government. In many companies the Planning Department was abolished and thus the finance and accounting department assumed greater responsibilities. However, in 2009 (Lawson, 2009) Chinese companies still saw accountants' area of influence not in planning and control but mainly in bookkeeping which speaks for their persistent traditional view. Nonetheless, the role is progressing towards a strategic partner. (Lawson, 2009) found in a survey that costing information and methods ranked as the highest item related to the role of finance and accounting and as the least ranked item strategic (long-term) orientation. One reason for this can be that the responsibilities of finance and accounting are relatively new and that some of the higher ranking employees might still hold a traditional view.
4.3.2 United States
In the United States the role of MAs has been evolving in the last years as well. Here the shift is clearly towards a business partner from the former role as collecting and compiling data (Siegel & Sorensen, 1999). The role of a business partner involves interpreting data for the decision making process and being part of this process. Additionally, MAs take on more higher-value-added types of activities such as profitability analysis, performance evaluation and strategic planning (Siegel & Sorensen, 1999).
Certified public MAs in the United States are responsible for increasing the reliability of information, and for preparing information in such a way that it can be used to aid decision making (Whittington & Pany, 2006). It is necessary to audit financial statements as there have been cases where these have been misstated. This can be an indication for cases where companies are not able to meet their financial obligations. Reasons may be management decisions and the economic condition of the company. Both pose a risk to the company, however these will usually not be highlighted by an auditor as he or she will concentrate on misstatements. Through several incidents such as Enron's bankruptcy in 2001 and WorldCom's bankruptcy in 2002, the profession of the accountant has been seen as less credible (Whittington & Pany, 2006). As a reaction the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board were introduced in 2002 and 2003. Since then compliance has been a topic that received increased attention.
5. Discussion – The link between future orientation and management accountants' roles As discussed in the previous chapter, management accountants can fulfil several roles. These roles give them multiple options to influence the future orientation of management as their knowledge and ideas are valued. Several themes found in chapter three and four will be used as a base for propositions about connections between future orientation and management accountants' roles within a company.
First, for MAs to notably impact corporate decision making, they need to have authority and either serve headquarters or local management. The role deemed most influential on managements' decision making is called the partner. In this role managements' decision making is being facilitated by providing financial analyses, for instance (Lambert & Sponem, 2012). Another influential role for MAs is the omnipotent function which is also expected to affect managements' decisions as MAs have centralised power.
5.1 Hofstede and World Values Survey
As found by Hofstede and the researchers of the World Values Survey, variations can be detected in the long-term values of nationalities. An implication for MAs' roles can be that also these roles differ by country. Differences were detected between China, where MAs begin to assume a business partner role, and the United States, where MAs take on responsibility in more diverse areas. Accountants who are working in countries who score higher on the long-term orientation dimension of Hofstede or the combined score of Hofstede and the World Values Survey, can be expected to attribute a higher degree of importance to the consequences of their, for instance, financial investment behaviour for the future of the company.
5.1.1 Education
Hofstede (2001) discovered the relation between long-term orientation and high performance in mathematics. Hence, it can be concluded that MAs who come from a long-term oriented country may have a higher disposition to make long-term oriented financial decisions. This matches the findings from the CFC survey which detected that individuals scoring high in CFC are fiscally more responsible as they focus on the future consequences of their financial spending. However, as Hofstede based his findings on students, it should be validated if such a correlation persists to exist throughout adult life or what factor can influence their future consideration to change. Based on these arguments, I raise the following
5.2 Consideration of Future Consequences
The CFC scale has been used so far in several areas such as academic achievement, fiscal responsibility and health related behaviour as examined in chapter three. An additional application could be to measure the extent to which management accountants focus on and are more concerned by immediate or future outcomes. Research (Arnocky et al., 2014) has linked a high score on future orientation in combination with a reduced concern for immediate outcomes to sustainable behaviour.
It would be interesting to apply this line of reasoning to management accounting as the aim has been to investigate how their behaviour might influence management towards an increased future orientation. In this paper the evolvement of future orientation from infancy onwards has been scrutinised which helps to understand to what factors individual differences in time orientation can be attributed. On a practical perspective, the CFC scale could give an indication of managers' future orientation and as Arnocky et al. (2014) found out, management low on CFC could be primed towards the future. This could lead to a reduction in immediate concerns for managers and enhance their future orientation by stressing immediate goals less and concentrating on future goals. In short-term oriented countries, in-house training could be offered to increase the future orientation of employees.
Proposition 2: Priming management towards the future while raising their future concerns, increases their future orientation.
A focus on future orientation and concerns alone possibly does not result in the wished for outcomes. To achieve this goal a long-term strategy may be formulated to keep the focus on future goals. The desirability and feasibility concerns of sustainable behaviour relate to moral principles and ideals, and to the cost and difficulty (and situational pressures) of executing the behaviour (Milfont, 2010). For MAs this could translate into how accepted the behaviour is in the company, so what principles or institutional pressures exist. Therefore, it may be of importance for MAs to draft a response to known institutional pressures, and to encourage the pursuit of long-term goals.
In order to change the behaviour of employees and possibly management, they have to experience an unknown situation and try to make sense of it (Gioia & Poole, 1984). MAs make sense of and guide new interpretations in the situation through for instance the use of accounting systems (Tillmann & Goddard, 2008). This helps individuals to interpret the situation and to form new routines.
5.3 Fiscal responsibility and CFC Discussion
The connection between fiscal responsibility of accountants and their consideration of future consequences could mean for MAs that individuals with a low CFC score are more likely to ignore accrued firm debt and invest in short-term options beneficial for them. They are also more inclined to make impulsive decisions related to buying.
5.3.1 Fiscal responsibility and CFC Practical suggestions
For the CFC score to have practical implications, several measures would have to be taken first. For once, a significant connection has to be established between a CFC score and behaviour relevant for management accountants. Spending behaviour is one component but other aspects such as compliance to regulations should be included additionally. To assess if the CFC score adequately reflects employee behaviour, a case study might give insights into the real world mechanisms. Then building on the findings, it may be decided if testing applicants for their CFC score before employment will make a difference in the effectiveness and future orientation of their own and managements' decisions. The score should be tested regularly because the CFC score of individuals is relatively stable during one year, but it is changing over the course of a three year time period (Toepoel, 2010). Furthermore, it is declining with the increasing age of an individual (Joireman et al., 2001).
Presumably, the formal and informal environment in the company has an influence on MAs long-term orientation as well. However, by screening employees first, the likelihood of choosing a candidate who is inclined to make impulsive decisions may be minimised. As scoring high on CFC could mean that only future consequences are important or that future and present consequences are important, an additional test should be taken to clarify this. The reason is that a consideration for the present and future is linked with the least risky behaviour in individuals (Mello et al., 2013).
Proposition 4: A higher CFC score of MAs is an indication for their long-term fiscal responsibility. 5.4 Risky behaviour
distant future. This may decrease the risky behaviour of management and increase long-term viable decisions.
Individuals who engage in risky behaviour often have the desire to fulfil their short-term needs as soon as possible. MAs could emphasise the negative consequences of fulfilling such needs have for the company in the long run. Moreover, they could present ways how those consequences may be avoided. At the same time the need of managers for a bonus, for instance, could be linked to the long-term financial health of the company. However, a problem might be that managers or the board first have to agree to a change in bonus allocation. A reason for a company to encourage less risky behaviour next to financial reasons is that employees have a reduced likelihood of abusing substances when engaging in future-oriented behaviour.
In order to generate situations where individuals can experience security and positive outcomes, it is crucial to establish an environment which promotes social interactions. The reason is that socially embedded individuals feel more trustful towards others compared to lonely individuals (Cacciopo et al., 2000). It is proposed that this has a positive influence on discussing long-term orientated proposals during the decision making process.
Proposition 5: Management accountants with a strong present and future orientation have a positive influence on decreasing the risky behaviour of management and on increasing their long-term viable decisions.
5.5 Future Implications
Understanding how MAs can influence the future orientation of managers and an organisation is important because it may help in devising strategies that prevent incidences like Enron and WorldCom. These companies had an agency problem as shareholders were long-term focused but management prioritised short-term goals. When MAs are able to influence managers and make them aware of the future consequences of their behaviour, they may act as an intermediary between shareholders and management and shape the company towards a sustainable long-term orientation.
6. Conclusion
This thesis explained first the connection between managers' short-term focus and the adverse implications this can have for the value and health of companies. Enron and WorldCom were named as examples where manager prioritised present concerns over future ones. As managerial and market control mechanisms did not work satisfactorily in these cases, it was necessary to scrutinise the underlying aspects that may motivate managers to engage in long-term oriented behaviour. An understanding of these aspects is vital for devising more effective future oriented strategies in an organisation. The different roles management accountants (MAs) can take on within organisations have an impact on the effectiveness of their managerial decision-making facilitation and their authority. This led to the main research question How can management accountants contribute to shaping the long-term values of an organisation?
It was found that MAs may contribute in several ways, giving that they take on the role of a partner or are omnipotent in the organisation. Based on the analysis of future orientation evolvement and the roles of MAs, several propositions have been formulated. They suggest that MAs from long-term oriented countries may make more long-term oriented financial decisions, and that MAs may be primed towards a higher future orientation. Further, the emphasis on future goals by MAs may enhance the future orientation of managements' decisions. The Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) score was another measurement that may be utilised for determining the fiscal responsibility of MAs and management. Finally, it was argued that MAs with a strong present and future orientation have a positive influence on decreasing the risky behaviour of management and increasing their long-term viable decisions.
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