Power, organization design and managerial behaviour

This paper examines empirically the impact of authority structures on the use of accounting information systems (AISs) for decision control and decision management. The model is designed to enable an assessment of the relative impact of formal authority that stems from allocation of decision rights and informal authority that stems from individual power and influence. The study is based on data collected from physician managers in large public teaching hospitals in Italy. The results support the hypotheses and demonstrate the consequences of power on organizational functioning. Our findings indicate that the delegation of formal authority to physician managers not only has a direct impact on the use of accounting for decision control and decision management it also has an important effect on their cost consciousness. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.