Date of Award

2010

Thesis Type

PhD

Document Type

Thesis

Divisions

Faculty of Business and Economics (formally known as Faculty of Business and Accountancy)

Institution

Universiti Malaya

Abstract

Nowadays firms are experiencing a constant changing business context. Accurate costing information is crucial for any firms to survive and stay competitive. However, traditional volume based costing systems are subjected to many criticisms due to the failure to provide firms with a reliable, accurate and timely costing information. Activity-Based Costing (ABC) was introduced by Cooper and Kaplan (1988) to address the shortcomings of the traditional costing systems, and it is more suitable to assist management in strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation in today‟s advanced business environment. Motivated by the benefits of ABC, a number of researchers have conducted various studies on factors influencing ABC success. However, very little research has been done in the Asian context, especially, in China. This research attempted to investigate the effects of behavioral and organizational variables, technical variable, organizational structure, as well as organizational culture on Activity-Based Costing (ABC) success in Chinese manufacturing sectors. In addition, the effect of ABC success on firms manufacturing performance and business performance are also examined. Data were gathered through mail questionnaire survey from 106 randomly selected manufacturing companies listed on Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Directory 2008. The results of the questionnaire survey indicate significant direct relationships between ABC success and behavioral and organizational variables, especially, top management supports, technical and organizational culture, especially, outcome orientation and team orientation. However, organizational structure was not found to be significantly associated with ABC success. This research also investigated the relationship between ABC success and firm performance. The results presented a significant relationship between ABC success and firms manufacturing performance and business performance. Furthermore, this research also provides implications to both the theoretical and practical perspectives. For theoretical prospects, this study adopts a more comprehensive framework than previous research by incorporating behavioral, organizational, technical, organizational structure and culture together to examine factors affecting ABC success. For practical prospects, this study attempts to create more awareness of critical factors in determining ABC success for Chinese manufacturing firms and professional body, such as the CICPA.

Initial

khm

Additional Information

Thesis (PhD) – Faculty of Business and Economics, Universiti Malaya, 2010.

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