We do not regard applied research and basic research as dichotomous, but assume that a combination in the sense of "application-driven basic research" is also possible. In this sense, our research, inspired by application problems, is aimed at understanding basic relationships, in order to be able to provide design recommendations for practical application.


The research contents of LUC can be structured into three central areas of research, which show a variety of interdependencies:

  Behavioural aspects of Management Accounting ("Psychological Management Accounting Research")
  Consequences of digital change for Management Accounting  ("Management Accounting 4.0")
  Normative and strategic aspects of Management Accounting (especially "Management Accounting  and Ethics" and "Management Accounting and Sustainability")

The focus of our focus "Psychological Management Accounting Research (PMAR)" is on the possibilities and limits of supporting and influencing decision-making and problem-solving processes in organizations through the "real existing phenomenon of Management Accounting ". Of particular interest to us are the mental processes of the acting persons.

In the research area "Management Accounting 4.0" the concept of "application-driven basic research" becomes particularly clear. We take the technical changes brought about by digital change ("application problem") as an opportunity to examine the fundamental business management implications associated with it. For example, the "Internet of Things and Services" and the increasing spread of cyber-physical systems are leading to new structures that can no longer be adequately represented by traditional cost accounting with its highly simplified linearity premises without new cost accounting concepts ("Cost Accounting 4.0") that have been suitable for this purpose to date.

The support of strategic management focuses on the effects of corporate decisions on the three sustainability dimensions of ecology, economy and social issues. This initially involves the possibilities and limits of appropriate sustainability instruments that allow the different dimensions of the sustainability construct to be presented in a decision-oriented manner. Decision orientation is also linked to the need to justify the legitimacy of the resulting decisions, since the "presumption of legitimacy" of the economic principle - and thus of the decisions made on its basis - is shaken, and the responsibility for legitimacy thus falls back to the company and the individual. The state of knowledge in this area has been relatively low so far, so that we have to create the foundations we need ourselves to some extent and specify them on a case-by-case basis in order to enable the results from our other research areas to be linked to the legitimacy discourse. An explicitly subject-independent approach appears to be particularly fruitful in this context, which clarifies the justification of the relevance of corporate ethical considerations and which has been researched at the chair since 2016. The results of the third research area, in particular "Management Accounting and Ethics" and "Management Accounting and Sustainability", thus represent the normative and strategic "basis" for our other two research areas ("PMAR" and "Management Accounting 4.0"), but also extend into them (see figure).

 

The detailed research concept of the chair has been published as a contribution to Management Accounting research. In the discussion paper, the scientific theoretical positioning, the research approach, the resulting research strategy and the research methods used are presented. All this is embedded in an extended presentation of the Management Accounting concept represented at the Chair of Management Accounting and Control. 


Lingnau, V. (2010): Research concept of the Chair of Management Accounting and Control. In: Lingnau, V. (Hrsg): Contributions to Management Accounting Research, No. 15, Kaiserslautern 2010.