Aljabr, Abdulrahman (2017) A contingency study of costing system design in Saudi Arabia. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield.
Abstract
A proper understanding of the impacts on optimal costing system design (CSD), with respect to the assignment of indirect costs to products, that balances the costs of measurements and errors is necessary to maintain optimal performance. Nevertheless, contingency theory research on optimal CSD has failed to provide such an understanding. This might have been caused by using the selection form of fit and moderation sub-form of fit rather than the more realistic and appropriate matching sub-form of fit and system form of fit of contingency theory. A further related issue is that, although the contingency theory literature has promoted the joint use of polynomial regression analysis (PRA) and response surface methodology (RSM) rather than the problematic difference-score models to test for the matching sub-form of fit, it has failed to describe thoroughly the combined use of these techniques. Thus, this research aims to contribute to the extant literature by investigating the influence of different contingency factors on optimal CSD, where: (1) the matching sub-form of fit and system form of fit are applied; and (2) a procedure involving the recommended joint usage of PRA and RSM is developed and employed to test for the matching sub-form of fit. Data were collected from Saudi manufacturing business-units via a survey strategy that involved an exploratory qualitative stage with eight business-units, and a model-testing quantitative stage with 204 business-units. The results of testing both the matching sub-form of fit and system form of fit showed predominantly unpredicted findings, of which the negative matching impact of production complexity on optimal CSD is the most prominent. Although the tentative results of this research are insufficient to question the existence of a joint effect of contingency factors on optimal CSD, they cast some doubt on the validity of prior contingency research findings, and suggest ways to capture the optimality of CSD. Hence, further research on this area, considering the theoretical and methodological contributions, limitations and implications of this research, is required to validate the findings of this research and also those of prior research that produced mostly contradictory findings regarding the influences on optimal CSD.
Metadata
Supervisors: | Brierley, John and Lee, Bill |
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Keywords: | Optimal costing system design, costing system complexity, contingency theory, forms of fit, polynomial regression analysis, response surface methodology |
Awarding institution: | University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Identification Number/EthosID: | uk.bl.ethos.736562 |
Depositing User: | Abdulrahman Aljabr |
Date Deposited: | 14 Mar 2018 09:25 |
Last Modified: | 01 Feb 2023 10:53 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:etheses.whiterose.ac.uk:19665 |
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