The Influence of Organizational Commitment and Cognitive Dissonance on Acceptance of Change in Management Accounting and Control Systems

Previous studies examining changes in management accounting and control systems (MACS) mostly focused upon economic and organizational factors. This study using survey method explores the effect of behavioral and psychological variables on the acceptance of change in MACS. It is proposed, here, that acceptance of change in MACS is influenced by organizational commitment and cognitive dissonance. Furthermore, the mediating effect of cognitive dissonance on the relationship between organizational commitment and acceptance of change in MACS is evaluated. The effective sample includes 170 subordinate managers from Taiwanese manufacturing firms. The results support each of the proposed hypotheses. Besides, it is worthy to emphasize that a fully mediating effect of cognitive dissonance that leads to people's acceptance of change in MACS was found.