The Interplay of Core and Peripheral Actors in the Trajectory of an Accounting Innovation: Insights From Beyond Budgeting

60 Pages Posted: 16 Jan 2010 Last revised: 2 Jan 2020

See all articles by Sebastian D. Becker

Sebastian D. Becker

HEC Paris - Accounting and Management Control Department

Martin Messner

HEC Paris

Utz Schäffer

WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: January 9, 2010

Abstract

Previous studies on accounting innovations emphasize the key role played by innovators and other core actors in theorizing and popularizing such innovations. This paper extends this literature by drawing attention to the role of actors who occupy a more peripheral position within the innovation-based field. We regard accounting innovations as strategic action fields, in which core and peripheral actors interact to shape the trajectory of the innovation. In contrast to core actors, peripheral actors only weakly identify with the innovation-based field and often occupy a core position in some other industry, professional, and/or geographical field. Given their embeddedness in these other fields, they are likely to try and accommodate an innovation with existing practices. Such frame blending can be problematic for core actors who envisage a more radical frame shift. Using the case of Beyond Budgeting, we show how the interplay between core and peripheral actors shapes the trajectory of an innovation, in terms of the composition of the field and the framing tactics that dominate at different stages in the development of the field. Our paper advances a perspective on accounting innovations which highlights the variable nature of the innovation space, in terms of different actors entering and exiting this space over time, as well as the importance of considering the overlaps between an innovation-based field and other (industry, professional, geographical) fields.

Keywords: Beyond Budgeting, budgeting, theory of fields, embeddedness, pragmatic, idealistic, diffusion of accounting innovations, innovation-based field, agility, agile

JEL Classification: M10, M40

Suggested Citation

Becker, Sebastian D. and Messner, Martin and Schäffer, Utz, The Interplay of Core and Peripheral Actors in the Trajectory of an Accounting Innovation: Insights From Beyond Budgeting (January 9, 2010). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1535485 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1535485

Sebastian D. Becker (Contact Author)

HEC Paris - Accounting and Management Control Department ( email )

Jouy-en-Josas
France

Martin Messner

HEC Paris ( email )

1 rue de la Liberation
Jouy-en-Josas Cedex, 78351
France

Utz Schäffer

WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management ( email )

Burgplatz 2
Vallendar, D-56179
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.whu.edu/controlling

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