Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explore the way in which lower managers, who are expected to not only play formally prescribed roles but also autonomously respond to market changes, use management accounting information in the process of their interactions. Drawing on the case study of a Japanese manufacturing company, we focus on the reciprocal interactions among lower managers and their use of management accounting information. Though formal management accounting information often discouraged lower managers to interact with each other, the exchanges based on reciprocities could enhance their interactions. We identified two types of reciprocal exchanges: restricted exchange and generalized exchange. In the restricted exchanges, lower managers can understand the information needs from other managers through the shared local exchange mechanisms, rather than the formal management accounting information. In the generalized exchanges, the stated corporate missions could enhance the expectation for reciprocal returns but give rise to the imposition of the corporate values. It was found that interactive mechanisms to identify the returns were used to facilitate the generalized exchanges.
