Behavioral Effects of Feedback in Management Accounting Research: A Review of the Current State

Abstract

This study reviews the research on the behavioral effects of feedback in management accounting functions published in leading accounting journals over the past 29 years, beginning after the last review of Peter F. Luckett and Ian R. Eggleton in 1991. This review assesses 52 studies on the behavioral effects of feedback published between 1991 and 2019. Following the systematic approach of Luckett and Eggleton (1991), this review considers the progress being made in the field of feedback research and formulates a demand for future research. While extant research in this field has made considerable progress in the area of relative performance feedback and the further attributes of feedback, research on feedback has yet to provide answers to three major areas. First, future research should investigate more thoroughly the effects of digitization on feedback. Second, the research has struggled to provide a unified feedback design that is free of negative side effects and is flexible regarding employees’ personal attributes. Third, many contextual factors — such as complexity, level of cognition, and country- and firm-specific cultures — require deeper consideration.