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Adoption and Use of Management Controls in Higher Education Institutions

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Abstract

Management control systems are formal, routine-based systems which help to maintain or alter organizational activities to increase efficiency and effectiveness. During the last decade the higher education sector faced crucial changes towards more autonomy and self-financing in most countries. Thus, also the management control systems were challenged to be adapted to these environmental changes. This article gives insight into the design of management control systems of 176 higher education institutions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (response rate 40.9 %). We analyze both the adoption and use of budgeting, planning and reporting instruments, of financial control instruments and of instruments and systems for quality management.

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Acknowledgment

We are grateful for the financial support of the Saxonian Ministry of Science and Art (SMWK) and for technical support of Nancy Grossmann, Bianca Schoenherr and Sebastian John for collecting the data for the underlying survey.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technische Universität Dresden, Mommsenstraße 10, 01062, Dresden, Germany

    Thomas W. Guenther & Ulrike Schmidt

Authors
  1. Thomas W. Guenther
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  2. Ulrike Schmidt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas W. Guenther .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. TUM School of Management, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Isabell M. Welpe

  2. TUM School of Management, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Jutta Wollersheim

  3. TUM School of Management, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Stefanie Ringelhan

  4. Zeppelin University, Friedrichshafen, Germany, and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Margit Osterloh

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Guenther, T.W., Schmidt, U. (2015). Adoption and Use of Management Controls in Higher Education Institutions. In: Welpe, I., Wollersheim, J., Ringelhan, S., Osterloh, M. (eds) Incentives and Performance. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09785-5_22

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