The Relationship between Strategic Management Accounting Information Usage, Environmental Uncertainty and Nationality of Director of Manufacturing Enterprises in Thailand

Abstract

Dynamic business environments have caused intensified information in order to make decisions. Advanced management accounting techniques which have the potential for a more strategic role are used as a tool to facilitate successful organizational reforms to survive through rapid changes. This study aims to investigate relationships between strategic management accounting (SMA) information usage, environmental uncertainty (EU) and nationality of director (ND) using contingency theory. Based on Cadez and Guilding’s (2008) framework, sixteen strategic management accounting techniques were classified into five categories: costing, planning, control and performance measurement, strategic decision-making, competitor accounting and customer accounting. Questionnaires were employed for data collection from 217 manufacturing enterprises in Thailand selected by purposive sampling. The results show that managers increasingly require SMA information to calculate product and service costs, to plan control and performance measures, to evaluate competitor performance and assess individual customer profitability under environmental uncertainty situations. In addition, Thai chief executive officers trend to use SMA information for strategic decision-making and market competitions less than non-Thai ones. This study contributes to existing knowledge by enhancing our understanding of the relationships between SMA information usage, EU and ND in Thailand. Executives can effectively utilize the advantages of SMA information usage in order to gain sustainable competitive advantage.