Strategy , Choice of Performance Measures , and Performance

We examine the relationship between quality-based manufacturing strategy and the use of different types of performance measures, as well as their separate and joint effects on performance. A key part of our investigation is the distinction between financial and both objective and subjective nonfinancial measures. Our results support the view that performance measurement diversity benefits performance as we find that, regardless of strategy, firms with more extensive performance measurement systems—especially those that include objective and subjective nonfinancial measures—have higher performance. But our findings also partly support the view that the strategy-measurement ‘‘fit’’ affects performance. We find that firms that emphasize quality in manufacturing use more of both objective and subjective nonfinancial measures. However, there is only a positive effect on performance from pairing a qualitybased manufacturing strategy with extensive use of subjective measures, but not with objective nonfinancial measures. INTRODUCTION Performance measures play a key role in translating an organization’s strategy into desired behaviors and results (Campbell et al. 2004; Chenhall and Langfield-Smith 1998; Kaplan and Norton 2001; Lillis 2002). They also help to communicate expectations, monitor progress, provide feedback, and motivate employees through performancebased rewards (Banker et al. 2000; Chenhall 2003; Ittner and Larcker 1998b; Ittner et al. 1997; Ittner, Larcker, and Randall 2003). Traditionally, firms have primarily used financial measures for these purposes (Balkcom et al. 1997; Kaplan and Norton 1992). But with the ‘‘new’’ competitive realities of increased customization, flexibility, and responsiveness, and associated advances in manufacturing practices, both academics and practitioners have argued that traditional financial performance measures are no longer adequate for these functions (Dixon et al. 1990; Fisher 1992; Ittner and Larcker 1998a; Neely 1999). Indeed, many We acknowledge the helpful suggestions by Tom Groot, Jim Hesford, Ranjani Krishnan, Fred Lindahl, Helene Loning, Michal Matejka, Ken Merchant, Frank Moers, Mark Peecher, Mike Shields, Sally Widener, workshop participants at the University of Illinois, the 2002 AAA Management Accounting Meeting in Austin, the 2002 World Congress of Accounting Educators in Hong Kong, and the 2003 AAA Annual Meeting in Honolulu. An earlier version of this paper won the best paper award at the 9th World Congress of Accounting Educators in Hong Kong (2002). 186 Van der Stede, Chow, and Lin Behavioral Research in Accounting, 2006 accounting researchers have identified the continued reliance on traditional management accounting systems as a major reason why many new manufacturing initiatives perform poorly (Banker et al. 1993; Ittner and Larcker 1995). In light of this development in theory and practice, the current study seeks to advance understanding of the role that performance measurement plays in executing strategy and enhancing organizational performance. It proposes and empirically tests three hypotheses about the performance effects of performance measurement diversity; the relation between quality-based manufacturing strategy and firms’ use of different types of performance measures; and the joint effects of strategy and performance measurement on organizational performance. The distinction between objective and subjective performance measures is a pivotal part of our investigation. Prior empirical research has typically only differentiated between financial and nonfinancial performance measures. We go beyond this dichotomy to further distinguish between nonfinancial measures that are quantitative and objectively derived (e.g., defect rates), and those that are qualitative and subjectively determined (e.g., an assessment of the degree of cooperation or knowledge sharing across departmental borders). Making this finer distinction between types of nonfinancial performance measures contributes to recent work in accounting that has begun to focus on the use of subjectivity in performance measurement, evaluation, and incentives (e.g., Bushman et al. 1996; Gibbs et al. 2004; Ittner, Larcker, and Meyer 2003; MacLeod and Parent 1999; Moers 2005; Murphy and Oyer 2004). Using survey data from 128 manufacturing firms, we find that firms with more extensive performance measurement systems, especially ones that include objective and subjective nonfinancial measures, have higher performance. This result holds regardless of the firm’s manufacturing strategy. As such, our finding supports the view that performance measurement diversity, per se, is beneficial. But we also find evidence that firms adjust their use of performance measures to strategy. Firms that emphasize quality in manufacturing tend to use more of both objective and subjective nonfinancial measures, but without reducing the number of financial measures. Interestingly, however, combining quality-based strategies with extensive use of objective nonfinancial measures is not associated with higher performance. This set of results is consistent with Ittner and Larcker (1995) who found that quality programs are associated with greater use of nontraditional (i.e., nonfinancial) measures and reward systems, but combining nontraditional measures with extensive quality programs does not improve performance. However, by differentiating between objective and subjective nonfinancial measures—thereby going beyond Ittner and Larcker (1995) and much of the extant accounting literature—we find that performance is higher when the performance measures used in conjunction with a quality-based manufacturing strategy are of the subjective type. Finally, we find that among firms with similar quality-based strategies, those with less extensive performance measurement systems have lower performance, whereas those with more extensive performance measurement systems do not. In the case of subjective performance measures, firms that use them more extensively than firms with similar qualitybased strategies actually have significantly higher performance. Thus, a ‘‘mismatch’’ between performance measurement and strategy is associated with lower performance only when firms use fewer measures than firms with similar quality-based strategies, but not when they use more. The paper proceeds as follows. The next section builds on the extant literature to formulate three hypotheses. The third section discusses the method, sample, and measures. Strategy, Choice of Performance Measures, and Performance 187 Behavioral Research in Accounting, 2006 The fourth section presents the results. The fifth section provides a summary, discusses the study’s limitations, and suggests possible directions for future research. HYPOTHESES Although there is widespread agreement on the need to expand performance measurement, two different views exist on the nature of the desirable change (Ittner, Larcker, and Randall 2003; Ruddle and Feeny 2000). In this section, we engage the relevant literatures to develop three hypotheses. Collectively, the hypotheses provide the basis for comparing the two prevailing schools of thought on how performance measurement should be improved; that of performance measurement diversity regardless of strategy versus that of performance measurement alignment with strategy (Ittner, Larcker, and Randall 2003). The Performance Measurement Diversity View A number of authors have argued that broadening the set of performance measures, per se, enhances organizational performance (e.g., Edvinsson and Malone 1997; Lingle and Schiemann 1996). The premise is that managers have an incentive to concentrate on those activities for which their performance is measured, often at the expense of other relevant but non-measured activities (Hopwood 1974), and greater measurement diversity can reduce such dysfunctional effects (Lillis 2002). Support for this view is available from economicsbased agency studies. Datar et al. (2001), Feltham and Xie (1994), Hemmer (1996), Holmstrom (1979), and Lambert (2001), for example, have demonstrated that in the absence of measurement costs, introducing incentives based on nonfinancial measures can improve contracting by incorporating information on managerial actions that are not fully captured by financial measures. Analytical studies have further identified potential benefits from using performance measures that are subjectively derived. For example, Baiman and Rajan (1995) and Baker et al. (1994) have shown that subjective measures can help to mitigate distortions in managerial effort by ‘‘backing out’’ dysfunctional behavior induced by incomplete objective performance measures, as well as reduce noise in the overall performance evaluation. However, the literature also has noted potential drawbacks from measurement diversity. It increases system complexity, thus taxing managers’ cognitive abilities (Ghosh and Lusch 2000; Lipe and Salterio 2000, 2002). It also increases the burden of determining relative weights for different measures (Ittner and Larcker 1998a; Moers 2005). Finally, multiple measures are also potentially conflicting (e.g., manufacturing efficiency and customer responsiveness), leading to incongruence of goals, at least in the short run (Baker 1992; Holmstrom and Milgrom 1991), and organizational friction (Lillis 2002). Despite these potential drawbacks, there is considerable empirical support for increased measurement diversity. For example, in a study of time-series data in 18 hotels, Banker et al. (2000) found that when nonfinancial measures are included in the compensation contract, managers more closely aligned their efforts to those measures, resulting in increased performance. Hoque and James (2000) and Scott and Tiessen (1999) also have found positive relations between firm performance and increased use of different types of performance measures (e.g., financial and nonfinancial). These resul