Organizational learning, innovation, creativity, and knowledge sharing

Designing management control systems that promote organizational learning, spark innovation, encourage creativity, and support knowledge sharing

Balancing Control and Flexibility

• Investigate how to design MCS that maintain necessary control mechanisms while preserving the flexibility required for creativity and innovation.

• Explore the trade-offs between strict performance metrics and open-ended experimentation.

Linking Responsible Performance to Organizational Learning

• Examine how socially and environmentally responsible performance metrics can inform and enrich organizational learning processes.

• Study how integrating social, environmental, and ethical indicators into MCS affects employee behavior, decision-making, and long-term organizational performance.

Cultural Enablers of Innovation and Knowledge Sharing

• Explore how an organization’s culture, values, and leadership interact with MCS to encourage the exchange of ideas and the cultivation of creative mindsets.

• Identify best practices for designing MCS that promote trust, psychological safety, and open communication.

Role of Digital Technologies in Fostering Collaboration

• Investigate how emerging digital platforms, data analytics, and collaborative tools can be embedded in MCS to enhance knowledge sharing and collective learning.

• Assess the impact of technological innovations (e.g., AI-driven analytics) on real-time feedback and continuous improvement.

Measuring Intangible Outcomes

• Develop frameworks and methodologies for evaluating intangible outcomes (e.g., learning, innovation capacity, team creativity) within MCS.

• Study the challenges of quantifying and communicating these intangible metrics to stakeholders.

Publications in Academic Journals:

Becker, S. & Endenich, C. (2023): Entrepreneurial ecosystems as amplifiers of the Lean Startup philosophy – Management control practices in earliest-stage startups, Contemporary Accounting Research, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 624-667.

Casarin, V. (2023): Calculative frames, compromising metrics, and the multiple values of innovation: The case of technology incubation in the UK. Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 111, 101479.

Kunz, J. & Linder, S. (2015). With a View to Make Things Better: Individual Characteristics and Intentions to Engage in Management Innovation. Journal of Management and Governance, 19, pp. 525-556. 

Kunz, J. & Linder, S. (2010). The impact of management control systems on knowledge processes – a behavioural perspective. International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2(1), pp. 54-72. 

Linder, S. & Torp, S.S. (2017). Middle Managers' Engagement in Autonomous Strategic Actions: Does it Really Matter How Top Managers Use Budgets? IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 64(4), pp. 450-463. 

Linder, S., Lyngsie, J., Foss, N.J. & Zahra, S.A. (2015). Wise Choices: How Thoroughness of Opportunity Appraisal, Incentives, and Performance Evaluation Fit Together. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 62(4), pp. 484-494. 

Saebi, T., Foss, N.J. &  Linder, S. (2019). Social Entrepreneurship Research: Past Achievements and Future Promises. Journal of Management, (15), pp. 70-95. 2024 Journal of Management Scholarly Impact Winner

Publications in the Popular Business Press:

Becker, S.D./Endenich, C./Brown, D. (2023): Three Mechanisms Driving Early-Stage Companies To Follow The Lean Startup Principles, Forbes

Linder, S. (2021). Social entrepreneurship, ESSEC Knowlerdge 17.06.21