Management control across complexity and dynamism: A synthesis of contingency-based research

More than five decades of contingency-based research have generated extensive evidence on how management control (MC) practices vary with organisational context, yet the diversity of contingency factors examined makes it unclear what cumulative knowledge the field has produced. This paper synthesises 1844 empirical associations from 266 studies published from 1969 to 2022, using a conceptual framework that relates contingency factors to two sources of uncertainty, complexity and dynamism, and to the distinct control problems they impose. Firms facing greater complexity or dynamism rely less on direct supervision and more on a common set of MC practices, including formal strategic planning, diagnostic measurement use, performance-based pay, decentralisation, lateral coordination, and personnel controls. Uncertainty is therefore associated not with less control, but with reliance on a wider range of MC practices. Complexity is associated with a control pattern termed distributed bureaucracy, in which formalised accountability structures are combined with delegation and lateral coordination to support integration. Dynamism is associated with bounded autonomy, in which formal controls guide and evaluate responses to changing conditions while preserving the local discretion needed for adaptation. The more limited evidence on contexts high in both complexity and dynamism suggests that firms combine the two patterns rather than prioritising one. The paper concludes by outlining priorities for advancing MC contingency theory through research on the functions and interdependencies of MC practices, the implications of digital technologies, and the evolution of MC over time.