Perceptions about the sociomateriality of management accounting practices

The purpose was to propose a construct that contributes to understanding managers’ perceptions of the sociomateriality of management accounting practices (práticas de contabilidade gerencial, MAP) based on the ceremonial (rites-based) versus instrumental (problem solving) institutional logic, drawing on New Institutional Sociology and on Bush’s digressions (1983, 1987).

Through a survey of 102 large non-financial organizations operating in Brazil, we identified that depending on the arrangement between isomorphic forces and diffusion to which the PCGs are subjected, they assume ceremonial (5%), instrumental (61%), or mixed (26%) behavioral characteristics. We infer that in these organizations, PCGs are primarily being used as problem solving techniques and contribute to changing the context in which they are applied.