Which types of management accounting system information can be used to respond adequately to environmental uncertainty? The effects of user participation and tolerance of ambiguity

Abstract

Previous research findings have shown that the relationship between environmental uncertainty and the usefulness of management accounting system (MAS) information is varied. However, there are few studies exploring whether the personalities would influence the aforementioned relationship. This paper argued that the tolerance of ambiguity produces different levels of need for various types of MAS information. Through a survey of 306 middle managers of publicly owned companies in Taiwan, and by using LISREL to perform this analysis, the present study has revealed that environmental uncertainty has a direct effect, specifically, on the usefulness of aggregated information. However, the indirect effects of environmental uncertainty on the usefulness of broad-scope, aggregated, and timely information are brought about through positive association with user participation. Furthermore, the mediating effect of user participation is stronger under the conditions of a low tolerance of ambiguity (TA), than it is in conditions of high TA. This study has found that high environmental uncertainty indirectly leads to particularly high usefulness of MAS information through user participation. Furthermore, compared to managers with a high TA, those with a low TA are more sensitive to user participation, when considering the relationship between environmental uncertainty and the usefulness of MAS information. Key words: Management accounting system, user participation, tolerance of ambiguity, interaction-term LISREL.