Antecedents of Management Control Combinations – An Explanation from Resource Dependence Theory

We empirically validate a model primarily based on Resource Dependence Theory. Our model links task characteristics and various subordinate characteristics that represent sources of managerial dependence to the adoption of the four archetypical combinations of formal and informal control proposed by Jaworski, Stathakopoulos, and Krishnan (1993). We find that managerial dependence and task characteristics jointly explain the adoption of control combinations; that, given high degrees of dependence and programmable tasks, managers will rely on a combination of high formal and high informal control; and that the choice between clan and bureaucratic control combinations is largely governed by task characteristics