Environmental Innovation Practices and Organizational Performance. The Joint Effects of Management Accounting and Control Systems and Environmental Training

Abstract

*Purpose. This study analyzes the effect of management accounting and control systems (MACS) on environmental innovation practices and operational performance. Specifically, this study relies on Simons’ levers of control (LOC) framework to investigate how managers implement environmental innovation practices. This paper hypothesizes that a forward-looking use of MACS (i.e., interactive use) triggers the implementation of environmental innovation practices, resulting in higher operational performance. Furthermore, we argue that the monitoring role of MACS (i.e., diagnostic use) combined with environmental training improves the effect of environmental innovation practices on operational performance. *Design/methodology/approach. Hypotheses are examined through a questionnaire survey. The analyses are based on responses in an empirical study from 89 Brazilian hotels. *Findings. Empirical findings from a hierarchical moderated regression analysis support the hypothesized links. *Originality/value. This study contributes to the environmental management and management control literature by providing novel evidence on the roles MACS play in the field of sustainable development. Based on the LOC framework, we shed light on the understanding of how managers introduce and monitor environmental innovation practices, as well as also outlining the key effects of environmental training in enabling the novel abilities of managers and employees to better understand environmental data and identify novel potential environmentally-friendly solutions in the case of deviations. This paper also adds to Wijethilake et al. (2017), providing new empirical evidence on how firms design, implement, and use MACS that capture institutional pressures for sustainability from multiple stakeholders.