Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 2025
Publisher
American Accounting Association
Source Publication
Journal of Management Accounting Research
Source ISSN
1049-2127
Abstract
Many organizations, including for-profit firms, seek to support a social mission. This study experimentally examines how superiors' value congruence and compensation scheme affect superiors' target-setting decisions in social mission organizations. We predict and find that more value-congruent superiors set higher targets for their subordinates than less value-congruent superiors to motivate
their subordinates to advance the organization's social mission. We also find that superiors set higher targets for their subordinates when compensated with performance-based pay rather than a fixed wage. We highlight the importance of superiors' value congruence with the organization's social initiatives and compensation scheme on their target-setting decisions. Organizations with social initiatives or that are apt to adopt such initiatives should consider our findings when developing formal controls, as superiors' value congruence with the social mission and their compensation structure can affect the targets they set for their subordinates.
Recommended Citation
Olczak, Wioleta; Thomas, Tyler F.; and Yatsenko, Dimitri, "Because I Care: The Effect of Value Congruence and Compensation Scheme on Target Setting in Social Mission Organizations" (2025). Accounting Faculty Research and Publications. 154.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/account_fac/154
Comments
Accepted version. Journal of Management Accounting Research, Vol. 37, No. 3 (2025): 103-120. DOI. © 2025 American Accounting Association. Used with permission.