Impacts of Interactive and Diagnostic Control System Use on the Innovation Process

Abstract This research explores the innovation process in organizations based on the Management Control System (MCS). We examined the link between the diagnostic and interactive uses of management control systems and their association with the intensity of the innovation process. Motivations for the research are: (a) enhance the potentiality of the model by including variables that are external to the organization, and (b) offer an empirical emergent country perspective on innovation. The study is quantitative and the data were collected by means of a survey questionnaire involving a sample of 121 Brazilian companies. The analysis was supported by structural equation modeling. The contributions are: (a) enhancement of the model by including the influences exerted by external stimuli on the intensity of innovation, (b) confirmation of the utility of the model in an emergent country, and (c) despite the controversial literature, highlighting the importance of the interactive use of the Management Control Systems process, by offering an empirical perspective on innovation control. A positive implication of the findings relates to the use of a broader and not exclusively internal model to increase its potentiality, reflecting the organizational reality by including the dynamism of external stimuli and the innovation control perspective.摘要 本研究基于管理控制系统（Management Control System，MCS）探讨组织内的创新流程。我们检验了管理控制系统的诊断性使用与互动性使用之间的关联，及其与创新流程强度的相关性。本研究的研究动机包含两点：(a) 通过纳入组织外部变量，提升模型的潜在应用潜力；(b) 从新兴经济体国家视角提供创新研究的经验证据。本研究采用定量研究方法，数据通过调查问卷收集，样本涵盖121家巴西企业，分析过程借助结构方程模型完成。本研究的贡献如下：(a) 纳入外部刺激对创新强度的影响，完善了现有模型；(b) 验证了该模型在新兴经济体国家中的实用性；(c) 尽管相关学术文献尚存争议，但本研究通过提供创新管控的经验视角，凸显了管理控制系统互动性使用流程的重要性。本研究发现的一项积极启示在于，应采用更具包容性而非仅聚焦内部的模型以提升其应用潜力，即通过纳入外部刺激的动态性与创新管控视角，更贴合组织的真实运营场景。