Contingency factors and choice of management control tools in small and medium-sized enterprises: moderating role of the use of people who speak the same language as the manager of the small and medium-sized enterprise

Abstract

This article aims to assess the moderating role of the language (dialect) of the SME manager in the links between organizational and behavioral contingency factors and the choice of management control tools in small and medium-sized Beninese enterprises. To achieve this objective, we conducted a qualitative study through interviews with 30 SME managers and a quantitative study using a questionnaire with a sample of 650 SME managers. The results show that, for organizational contingency, there is a positive and significant effect of the environment and computerization variables, which is not the case for the SME structure variable. For behavioral contingency, the effect is positive and significant for the decision style variable and not significant for the control strategy variable. Our results also show that the language of the manager of the SME does not play any moderating role in the different relationships. As limits, the study did not take into account the mediating role of language, other socio-cultural factors can be explored, for example the religion of the SME manager. Compared to the theoretical implication, there are a multitude of factors that determine the choice of management control tools and the literature shows a disparity in their influence, which is confirmed by our study. In terms of practical implications, the results can help SME managers to better understand the explanatory and non-explanatory factors of the choice of management control tools within SMEs. The originality of this study is the consideration of socio-cultural factors in management control, which brings a plus to the literature.

Keywords: Contingency factors, management control, SMEs, language.

Classification JEL : M41

Paper type: Theoretical Research or Empirical Research