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Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management
Cost consciousness: conceptual development from a management

accounting perspective
Santiago Velasquez, Petri Suomala, Marko Järvenpää,
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consciousne
Cost consciousness: ss
conceptual
Cost
development from a
management
accounting perspective
Santiago Velasquez 55
February 2019 (PT)
Industrial Management Department, Tampere, University of Received 4 July 2013

Technology,
Tampere, Finland Revised 21 February
Petri Suomala 2014
Accepted 1 March
2014
Cost Management Center, Tampere University of Technology,

Tampere, Finland, and
Marko Järvenpää
Accounting Department, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
Abstract
Downloaded by Universitas Gadjah Mada At 04:14 04
Purpose – This paper aims to take note of the need to better understand cost Introduction
consciousness from a management accounting perspective and serves as an The
exploratory study striving to analyze how the notion has been addressed by management
management accounting scholars.
accounting field
Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents the findings of a
thorough literature review identifying the drivers, interpretations, definitions and has served as a
results which management accounting scholars have associated with cost platform to
consciousness. pursue various
Findings – This paper has synthesized the definitions and interpretations by considering types of
their conceptual broadness and the subjects that cost consciousness characterizes. In scientific
addition, various potential drivers of cost consciousness have been identified where endeavor.
management control systems play a major role. Also, this paper summarizes both the
According to
positive and negative outcomes which scholars seem to expect from an increase of cost
consciousness. Harris and
Research limitations/implications – Given that no prior work has focused on the Durden (2012),
conceptual development of cost consciousness, it was necessary to infer most of the contemporary
interpretations, drivers and results which management accounting scholars have management
associated to the cost consciousness notion.
Originality/value – Cost consciousness is a concept that appears in hundreds of peer-reviewed The authors
articles on management accounting. However, only a handful of management accounting would like to
scholars have defined or evaluated this concept to a certain degree. As a result, what thank Dr Tomi
management accountants believe cost consciousness to be, how it is driven and what result may Nokelainen (Åbo
be expected from it, is nowhere to be found in any synthesized manner. The findings of this paper Akademi
develop the concept of cost consciousness by illuminating the common use of the construct University) for
across various disciplines. his valuable
insights and
Keywords Literature review, Cost consciousness,
comments
Management accounting Paper type Literature review
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ho
ut
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oc
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uc
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ng
th
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.
Qualitative Research in
Accounting & Management
Vol. 12 No. 1, 2015
pp. 55-86
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1176-6093
DOI 10.1108/QRAM-07-2013-0029
QRAM accounting research can be classified in four major groups, namely,
12,1 management control (e.g. budgeting and organizational control), cost
accounting (e.g. activity-based costing), intellectual resource management
(e.g. accounting information systems and knowledge management) and,
what the authors refer to as, other (e.g. literature reviews and research
methodologies). From the 138 articles reviewed by Harris and Durden, only
56 one serves as an example of a literature review. Moreover, there seems to
be a lack of conceptualization exercises addressing the clarification and
understanding of some of the notions pertinent to the field.
Cost consciousness is an example of such a notion, as its common use in
scientific literature suggests a certain degree of understanding and consensus
with respect to its meaning, and to the antecedents and consequences
associated with it. However, as we will point out in this paper, cost
consciousness is a concept characterized by vagueness and lack of clarity. This

is a relatively odd situation, as the basic concepts operated by scientists are
expected to be conceptually robust. Moreover, one of the main objectives of
scientific literature is to serve as a vehicle for the communication of knowledge
among scholars (Atkinson, 2004). This communication can “be interesting,
erudite, or impressive, but only if it is not obscure and if it does not distort the
scientific reliability of its findings” (Ogburn, 1947, p. 383).
Searching for “cost consciousness” as a search-phrase[1] in a major scientific
journal database – such as EBSCO, Emerald, Science Direct, JSTOR or ABI-Inform
– identifies thousands of articles belonging to different disciplines including
accounting, economics, healthcare, computer sciences, technology
management, marketing and law. However, whenever management accounting
scholars use the construct to describe a particular noun – such as a customer or
an organization – they rarely place any effort on clarifying what cost
consciousness actually is or could be. From 233 management accounting-related
studies where “cost consciousness” and “cost conscious” appear at least 380
times, we were able to identify only two papers that provide seemingly explicit
definitions of the notion (Kurunmäki, 1999; Nor-Aziah and Scapens, 2007).
Moreover, there are also only two articles evaluating possible drivers of cost
consciousness in an organization (Abernethy and Vagnoni, 2004; Shields and
Young, 1994). Apart from these four papers, there seems to be a lack of
attention to understanding cost consciousness in the management accounting
field.
Bisbe et al. (2007) argue that conceptual specification in management
accounting is particularly vital in explanatory models. In addition, it can be
argued that conceptual specificity is also valuable in descriptive and
interpretive research, given the abstract nature of many concepts in the
field. Hence, constructing a more robust understanding of cost
consciousness may allow the use of the notion in a more reliable manner
and, in this way, provide a more solid platform for theory-building and
operationalization (Bisbe et al., 2007). In addition, Torraco (2005) explains
that integrative literature reviews synthesize the existing literature of
mature and new topics. When topics are new, reviews “lead to [their] initial
or preliminary conceptualization” (Torraco, 2005, p. 357). Therefore, the
conceptual development of cost consciousness can be pursued through an
integrative literature review allowing the synthesis of the extant knowledge
related to the notion and the identification of previous attempts to further
its understanding.
Moreover,
given the
absence of
conceptualizati
on exercises in
the
management
accounting
literature, we
have explored
relevant works
in other
disciplines in
an attempt
to identify approaches to support the aforementioned review. The papers by Cost
van Raaij
and Stoelhorst (2008) and Grandey (2000), for example, examine the concepts consciousne
of market ss
orientation and emotional labor, respectively. The authors not only focus
on the
definitions and interpretations of the concepts but also on the antecedents (or
drivers)
and the results (or consequences) associated with the notions. A focus
on the
determinants and results allows waving off from the considerable challenges of
defining
a construct. In addition, a review considering these aspects may serve as a 57
foundation
for future research endeavors that could discuss, for example, the managerial
actions
required to implement cost consciousness or the consequences that can be
expected to
arise from an increase of cost consciousness across
industries.
Hence, this study aims to synthesize and discuss how cost consciousness
has been
understood in the management accounting literature by conducting an
integrative
literature review identifying the drivers, interpretations, definitions and results
that
scholars in the field have associated with the notion. This contribution is
expected to
shed light on possible future research opportunities and, in addition, build
ground for
furthering the understanding of the
construct.
This paper is composed of four sections. The following section
describes the
methodology used for identifying and scrutinizing the literature. The third
section
presents the major findings by analyzing the linguistic composition
of cost
consciousness; and discussing the definitions, interpretations, determinants and
results
that management accounting scholars have associated with the construct.
The final
section concludes by discussing the findings, suggestions for future
research and
limitations of the study.
Methodology
The literature review on cost consciousness is supported by a cross-

disciplinary
computerized review conducted on September 2013. The review used five
different
scientific journal databases, namely, EBSCOhost, Elsevier Science Direct,
JSTOR,
Emerald and ABI-inform. Although some authors have used one database as
part of
their literature review (
reduces
the probability of the literature background being either narrow or shallow
(Levy and
Ellis, 2006
can be
observed in
The first search included two different methodologies that produced two
sets of
results. The first set of results was obtained by inserting “cost consciousness”
and “cost
conscious” as search-phrases and using the default search settings of
the five
databases[
results to
articles that included either “cost consciousness” or “cost conscious” in
their titles,
abstracts or as keywords. The objective of this second search was to
identify those
articles where cost consciousness is not merely mentioned, but rather holds
a more
Sets of results
Default search
Title, abstract or keyword

521
QRAM central role. The results that appear in Table I indicate that searching for
12,1 cost consciousness in major scientific literature databases results in the
identification of thousands of articles serving different disciplines including
accounting, healthcare and medicine, education, computer sciences,
biology, economy, finance, operations management, business, technology
management, sociology and law.
58 As this study analyzes cost consciousness from a management accounting
perspective, we have focused on the use of the construct in management
accounting-related journals. Drawing, for the most part, on the lists of journals
presented by Chenhall (2003) and Rom and Rohde (2007), the second search
focused on 35 journals relevant to the field. As Appendix 1 shows, the review
identified 233 articles that include either “cost consciousness” or “cost
conscious” in their texts. Given that our intention is to analyze how
management accounting scholars interpret the construct, we have excluded

passages where the notion appears in:
• an interview quote (Lindgren and Packendorff, 2006, p. 851; Strauss, 1962, p.
179);
• a direct reference to other articles (Bryer, 2006, p. 576;
Douglas, 2003, p. 258; Feng and Baruch, 2004, p. 5; Fisher,
1970, p. 367);
• tables and figures that inhibit interpretation (Derfuss, 2009, p.
210; Maguire and Phillips, 2008, p. 386); and
• lists of references (Davila et al., 2009, p. 310).
Moreover, if the construct appeared in a sentence that is referenced without
being inside quotations, we verified whether the notion was used in the original
reference. If the original reference could not be accessed, or if the notion did
appear in the original reference, then we discarded the article (Baird et al.,
2004, p. 388; Chenhall, 2003, p. 129; Gibson and Zellmer-Bruhn, 2001, p. 280;
Hooper et al., 2005, p. 413; Rom and Rohde, 2007, p. 59; Sundtoft Hald and
Mouritsen, 2013, p. 1,088). However, if the notion did not appear in the original
reference, then the identified article remained in our sample, as it would provide
clues on how the management accounting scholar interprets the notion (Boyns
et al., 1997, p. 404; Hoskin and Macve, 1994, p. 7; Hyvönen and Järvinen, 2006,
p. 8; Pizzini, 2006, p. 184; Smith et al., 2005, p. 417; Snyder et al., 2005, p. 87).
From the original 233 articles, we discarded 64 and, therefore, our sample was
reduced to 169 articles. Finally, during the research process, one researcher
scrutinized each article identifying all of the paragraphs where “cost
consciousness” or “cost conscious” appeared. The synthesis and classification of
the findings was conducted together with another researcher, and this process
was reiterated four times.
Cost consciousness from a management accounting

perspective
The vague and abstract nature of cost consciousness can be partly explained by
its linguistic composition. Linguistically, an endocentric compound is composed
by a head and at least one dependent. Moreover, an “endocentric compound is
a hyponym of its lexical head” (Barker and Szpakowicz, 1998, p. 96) where the
meaning of the head is narrowed by the dependent. When considering the
notion of cost consciousness, it is reasonable to say that whenever people use it,
they refer to a
kind of
consciousness
that is
concerned
about costs
(and not vice
versa); costs
being
considered,
perhaps, as a
monetary
measure of a
resource’s
use. Hence,
from a
linguistic point
of view, cost
consciousness
is an
endocentric
compound
where
consciousness
acts as a
lexical head
and cost is the compound’s dependent. Consciousness is considered to be Cost
puzzling
(Flanagan, 1992, p. 9), controversial (Kauffman, 2010, p. 197) and a challenging consciousne
task for ss
anyone attempting to explain what it is (Dennett, 2001). Therefore, one may
find a
linguistic explanation for the difficulty in understanding cost
consciousness. In
addition, cost narrows down the conceptual realm of the compound. In
this way,
although one could imagine cost consciousness being used in fields like
political
science and history, given its linguistic composition, it would most likely find a 59
broader
adoption in scientific arenas where costs are of particular interest (e.g.
management
accounting).
Definitions and interpretations of cost consciousness
The literature review on cost consciousness from a management accounting
perspective
allowed us to identify denotations of the notion in two articles from our
sample. In
addition, we were able to infer interpretations from the remaining 167 articles.
While
most interpretations were seemingly narrow, concrete or well defined (e.g.
reducing
costs or using budgets), some were of a more holistic or abstract character (e.g.
financial
accountability, cost awareness). In addition, although the clues for inferring
these
narrow or holistic interpretations were, in some cases, relatively explicit, in many
cases,
the connotation was more implicit, forcing us to take into account the broader
context.
As a rule of thumb, if these clues where identified either in the sentence where the
notion
appeared or in the sentence immediately before or after, we considered this as an
explicit
case. Hence, it was possible to categorize each denotation or interpretation
as either
holistic or narrow, and, with respect to each of these, as either explicit or
implicit.
Moreover, during the research process it became evident that management
accounting
scholars have used cost consciousness to characterize[3] individuals (e.g.
engineer,
physician), formal and informal groups inside organizations (e.g. departments,
medical
staff), organizations (e.g. firms, companies) or higher-level entities (e.g.
industry,
markets and the business environment). However, in certain cases, it was not
possible to
infer whether the author was referring to an individual or a group.
Therefore, all definitions and interpretations were categorized according
to their
degree of conceptual broadness and the type of noun or noun phrase that
the cost
consciousness characterized (
categories were
divided between explicit and implicit as previously mentioned. Moreover, the
category
“sub organization” refers to groups inside organizations (e.g. units and
departments);
“supra organization” refers to higher-level entities including industry and
markets; and
“individual/collective” includes those references where it was not possible to
know if the
noun being characterized by cost consciousness was an individual or a
group[
From the 169 scrutinized publications, the earliest peered-reviewed article
providing
a definition of cost consciousness is authored by
states:
An increased awareness of costs, facilitated by the new and more detailed cost
accounting
systems, was evident to all health professionals interviewed at both university and
central
hospitals. Further, the improved
health care
operations – was regarded as having implications for the clinical decision making
processes.
One could reasonably argue that the author defines cost consciousness as
economic
judgment of operations. However, this definition leads one to ponder
about what
“economic judgment” means. According to the
(2006)
judgement may be defined as “the ability to make considered decisions or
come to
consciousnessinterpretati
60
ofSummary.IITa
2
1
,
ble
on
costo
f
Holistic Narrow
Type of noun Explicit Implicit Explicit Implicit
(phrase)
Individual Gates and Langevin (2010, p. Chenhall et al. (2010, p. 749) Jeacle and Carter (2012, p. 735) Gates and Langevin (2010, p.
111) 122)
Nor-Aziah and Scapens (2007, p. Coad and Herbert (2009, p. 189) van der Steen (2011, p. 520) Fleischman et al. (2008, p.
231) 355)
Perera et al. (2003, p. 148) Lehtonen (2007, p. 381) Kober et al. (2007, p. 442) Wiersma (2007, p. 1906)
Kurunmäki (1999, p. 121) Ostroff and Schmitt (1993, p. Nor-Aziah and Scapens (2007, p. 222) Evans et al. (2006, p. 1050)
1356)
Innes and Mitchell (1990, p. 13) Mayer and Salomon (2006, p. 949) Tyrrall and Parker (2005, p.
526)
Staubus (1990, p. 259) Pizzini (2006, p. 184) Bruining et al. (2004, p. 163)
Rindova et al. (2006, p. 60) Budding (2004, p. 292)
Major and Hopper (2005, p. 224) Davila and Wouters (2004, p.
19)
Abernethy and Vagnoni (2004, p. 213) Ezzamel et al. (2004, p. 804)
Balasubramanian and Bhardwaj (2004, p. Stajkovic and Luthans (2001, p.
494) 588)
Ezzamel et al. (2004, p. 800) West and Dedrick (2000, p.
208)
Sum et al. (2004, p. 339) Clemons and Hann (1999, p.
15)
Kurunmäki et al. (2003, p. 130) Lowe and Doolin (1999, p.
181)
Aidemark (2001, p. 552) Babbar and Prasad (1998, p.
425)
Bacharach et al. (2000, p. 724) Seal and Croft (1997, p. 80)
Llewellyn (1998, p. 26) Wood (1996, p. 57)
Carmona et al. (1997, p. 440) Chang (1995, p. 383)
Oakes and Covaleski (1994, p. 590) Chua (1995, p. 138)
Shields and Young (1994, p. 178) Chua and Degeling (1993, p.
304)
McNair (1991, p. 646) Worrell et al. (1991, p. 674)
Perry and Euler (1990, p. 245) Coombs (1987, p. 396)
Sub-organization Chenhall et al. (2010, p. 749) Lioukas (1984, p. 118) Olson and Ives (1982, p. 49)
Chenhall and Euske (2007, p. Smith (1980, p. 210) Smith et al. (1981, p. 400)
612) Gallagher (1977, p. 734) Young (1981, p. 30)
Arai (2006, p. 441) Stevenson and Berra (1975, p. 635)
Seal and Croft (1997, p. 76) Boutell (1964, p. 306)
Hepworth (1954, p. 99) McMurry (1958, p. 111)
Thompson and Bates (1957, p. 336)
Coad and Herbert (2009, p. 184) Andon et al. (2007, p. 287) Vaivio and Sirén (2010, p.
137)
Chenhall and Euske (2007, p. Zott and Huy (2007, p. 84) Agbejule and Saarikoski (2006, p.
615) 436)
Chenhall and Euske (2007, p. Marginson and Ogden (2005, p. 444) Davila and Wouters (2004, p.
624)
Arai (2006, p. 449) Kurunmäki et al. (2003
Nandhakumar and Jones (2001, p. Carmona et al. (2002, p. 242)
211)
Doost (1997, p. 45)
Hafner (1964, p. 980)
Bordner (1949, p. 348)
Holistic Narrow
Type of noun Explicit Implicit Explicit Implicit
(phrase)
Organization Nor-Aziah and Scapens (2007, p. Suomala et al. (2010, p. Kathuria et al. (2010, p. 1097) Hyvönen et al. (2012, p. 958)
217) 73)
Marginson and Ogden (2005, p. Granlund (2003, p. 230) Lovejoy and Sinha (2009, p. 1136) Premuroso et al. (2012, p. 386)
438)
Tam et al. (2003, p. 43) Andon et al. (2007, p. 289) Belal and Cooper (2011, p. 662)
Collier (2005, p. 332) Tallon (2010, p. 245)
Bruining et al. (2004, p. 162) Bahmanziari et al. (2009, p. 162)
Dekker (2004, p. 37) Mouritsen et al. (2009, p. 744)
Siggelkow (2002, p. 147) Saravanamuthu (2008, p. 166)
Owen (2003, p. 294) Chenhall and Euske (2007, p. 619)
Tan and Wisner (2003, p. 1311) Weiss et al. (2006, p. 685)
Antonacopoulou (2001, p. 344) Burns and Baldvinsdottir (2005, p. 750)
Smith et al. (1998, p. 74) Conrad (2005, p. 8)
Knights and McCabe (1997, p. 376) Smith et al. (2005, p. 417)
Maunders (1997, p. 70) Imhoff (2003, p. 119)
Ogden (1995, p. 198) Rainer and Watson (1995, p. 90)
Belcher and Watson (1993, p. 240) Foster and Gupta (1994, p. 72)
Clarke and Mia (1993, p. 81) Koch and Cebula (1994, p. 683)
Whipp et al. (1989, p. 378) D’Aveni and Ilinitch (1992, p. 601)
Collins (1978, p. 327) Young (1991, p. 131)
Khandwalla (1973, p. 293) Murray and Reshef (1988, p. 620)
Ruggins (1973, p. 484) Finlay (1987, p. 57)
Legge (1970, p. 6) Horwitch and Thietart (1987, p. 185)
Mason (1969, p. 411) Miller (1987, p. 689)
Cangelosi (1965, p. 136) Provan (1987, p. 236)
Nutt (1983, p. 611)
Smith et al. (1981, p. 403)
Banbury and Nahapiet (1979, p. 171) Smith (1967, p.
137)
Supra-organization Snyder et al. (2005, p. 87) Conrad and Guven-Uslu (2011, p. 49)
Groot and Budding (2004, p. 425) Menon et al. (2009, p. 300)
Langfield-Smith and Smith (2003, p. Batt (2002, p. 595)
295)
Lowe (2000, p. 104) Menon et al. (2000, p. 83)
Boulding and Staelin (1990, p. McDermott et al. (1997, p. 77)
1173)
Tavana et al. (1996, p. 524)
Hoskin and Macve (1994, p. 7)
Clemons and Row (1991, p. 60)
Goodhue et al. (1988, p. 384)
Hill (1985, p. 10)
Nutt (1983, p. 604)
Taggart and Castenholz (1935, p. 75)
(continued
)
consciou
snessCos
t
61
62
1
2
1
,
Holistic Narrow
Type of noun (phrase) Explicit Implicit Explicit Implicit
Individual Chenhall (2008, p. 529) Masquefa (2008, p. 186) Jakobsen (2012, p. 96) Chua and Mahama (2007, p.
64)
collective Lehtonen (2007, p. Siti-Nabiha and Scapens (2005, p. Bryer (2006, p. 716)
380) 53)
Chua and Preston (1994, p. Mouly and Sankaran (2004, p. Hyvönen and Järvinen (2006, p.
4) 1452) 8)
Hyvönen (2003, p. 166) Bhimani (2003, p. 532)
Chan et al. (2000, p. 297) Ter Bogt (2003, p. 327)
Van Helden (1997, p. 131) Broadbent et al. (1999, p.
164)
Fleischman et al. (1995, p. Boyns et al. (1997, p. 404)
166)
Holden and Wilhelmij (1995, p. Edwards (1989, p. 310)
31)
Young (1991, p. 130) Summers (1989, p. 379)
Woodward (1982, p. 189) Morgan (1988, p. 483)
Dimick and Murray (1978, p. Miller (1987, p. 695)
621)
Campfield et al. (1971, p. 92) Knutson and Wichmann (1985, p.
393)
Anderson et al., (1970, p. 531) Kohler (1945, p. 41)
Brummet (1955, p. 440)
Katzenmeyer (1955, p. 701)
sensible conclusions”. Hence, the definition by Kurunmäki can be extended Cost
to “the
ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions with consciousne
respect to ss
economic issues in operations”. However, this extended definition is still very
broad and
somehow vague, showing the dictionary’s clear limitations and
highlighting the
difficulties in defining a notion.
The second definition of cost consciousness identified in our sample is 63
drawn from
Nor-Aziah and Scapens (2007, p. 217):
PSP is an established, large, geographically-dispersed and labour-intensive organisation

that provides services to the public […]. Furthermore, there are institutional pressures of
both a coercive and a regulative nature that have continued to come from the
government. The government requires PSP to be economically efficient, i.e. a cost-
conscious organisation, but at the same time prevents it from behaving in a strictly
commercial manner.
Hence, the authors define cost consciousness as economic

efficiency. This definition, moreover, as the one by Kurunmäki
(1999), is arguably quite broad and may allow various
interpretations. For example, economic efficiency could be related to
organizational capabilities in pricing, cost reduction, negotiation and
inventory handling.
No other explicit denotations of the notion were found in the
management accounting literature apart from the two previously
presented[5]. However, as mentioned above, it was always possible to
infer possible connotations. For example, cost consciousness has often
been mentioned in association with clear management initiatives to
reduce or control costs:
[The increased emphasis attached to costs and cost reductions] also
served to promote cost consciousness as a mobilizing organizational
imperative. Being good at achieving cost reductions became an
organizational objective that competed with the predominantly
engineering judgments about standards of service that had previously
prevailed (Ogden, 1995, p. 198).
The external pressures help form the cognitive appreciation (or

consciousness), by administrators, of the need to contain costs (Smith et
al., 1981, p. 400).
The quote by Ogden suggests cost consciousness to connote cost reduction, an
interpretation that is arguably narrower or more concrete when compared to the
definitions previously presented. Furthermore, this quote already sheds light on
possible drivers of cost consciousness as the author suggests that emphasizing
costs and cost reductions leads to cost consciousness. Hence, one is left
wondering if cost consciousness may be a result in itself (i.e. cost reduction as a
driver of cost reduction). In addition, the quote by Smith et al. provides an
implicit interpretation because, although cost consciousness does not appear in
this passage, the title of the section where this sentence is found (i.e.
Environmental Pressures And Cost Consciousness) together with the model that
i 399) clearly suggest that the authors are interpreting cost consciousness as the
s cognitive appreciation of the need to contain costs. Hence, the authors provide
a narrow and implicit interpretation of the notion.
p These interpretations, suggesting a narrow conceptual realm, contrast
r the more holistic definitions by Kurunmäki and Nor-Aziah and Scapens.
e However, given the
s
e
n
t
e
d
i
n
t
h
e
p
a
p
e
r
(
S
m
i
t
h
e
t
a
l
.
,
1
9
8
1
,
p
.
QRAM linguistic compositions of cost consciousness, it is no surprise that a
12,1 holistic understanding of the notion is shared by other authors:
In several firms it was also observed that the increased focus placed on
particular activities simply through the change in management accounting
had resulted in improved performance. For example, in firms D, E and F the
institution of a role for accountants in competitive analysis, design for cost,
64 the commencement of direct charging and the calculation of landed costs had
apparently made managers more cost conscious in their general work (Innes
and Mitchell, 1990, p. 13).
The previous quote suggests that cost consciousness is not merely about
reducing or containing costs, but about having a broader understanding of cost
management.
Finally, with respect to the interpretations of cost consciousness we would
also like to highlight the use of the notion to characterize organizational cultures
and values:
More important than specific incentive plans is the establishment of a cost
conscious managerial orientation among the systems specialists. The existence of
such a culture among specialists who identify with a profession depends on its
existence in the organization in general and also the extent to which such an
orientation is consistent with the values of the professional establishment outside
the organization (Young, 1981, p. 32).
RIB had several reasons to initiate an alliance with NMA […]. Third, an
alliance was considered a good vehicle to internally manage a cultural
change towards more market orientation and cost consciousness. RIB’s
management describes the organization as predominantly “technology
driven”, with less recognition of its associated costs (Dekker, 2004, p.
37).
Both quotes clearly suggest that cost consciousness may reflect a type
of organizational culture, a finding that could lead to considerable
possibilities for research given the vast literature on the topic (Geertz,
1993; Schein, 2004). Moreover, Dekker’s conception of market
orientation as a business culture is shared by Narver and Slater (1990,
p. 21) who define market orientation as:
[ the organizational culture […] that most effectively and efficiently
creates the necessary behaviours for the creation of superior value for
buyers and, thus, continuous superior performance for the business.
Future research could discuss, for example, the benefits that a cost-
conscious organizational culture may bring to a firm. In addition,
following Busco and Scapens (2011), it would be interesting to
theorize on how a culture as such could be institutionalized in an
organization.
Drivers of cost consciousness

This section discusses the drivers or determinants that management accounting
scholars have evaluated for or associated with cost consciousness. Shields and
Young (1994) study the determinants of local cost consciousness where 16
variables were hypothesized to affect the cost consciousness of R&D
professionals. The results of the study indicated that only three variables (i.e.
cost management knowledge, cost budget participation and cost of regulation)
were significantly associated with cost consciousness. The most significant
effect on cost
consciousness
was attributed
to cost budget
participation
that is
considered by
the authors as
an efficient
vehicle to
communicate
information. In
addition, cost
of regulations
is inversely
related to cost
consciousness. Moreover, the study by Abernethy and Vagnoni (2004) Cost
analyzed how
cost consciousness is related to formal authority, informal authority and consciousne
accounting ss
information systems (AISs). While formal authority is related to hierarchical
structure,
informal authority is defined as “the ability of an individual or groups of
individuals to
influence organization decisions and activities in ways that are not sanctioned
by the
formal authority system” (Abernethy and Vagnoni, 2004, p. 210). The authors 65
use the
instrument developed by Shields and Young (1994) to evaluate cost
consciousness and
highlight the indirect relationship between formal authority and cost
consciousness (via
the use of AISs), and the direct but inverse relationship between informal
authority and
cost consciousness. In sum, these two studies identified cost management
knowledge,
cost budget participation, cost of regulations, AISs and informal authority as
drivers
of cost consciousness where cost of regulations and informal authority are
inversely
related to the phenomenon.
Moreover, the review allowed the researchers to infer other drivers
associated with
cost consciousness:
The management accountants believed they were introducing a new sense of
cost consciousness amongst engineers through the identification of cost and
profit centres, the development of budgetary control, and the monthly
reporting of actual costs and revenues compared with budgets (Coad and
Herbert, 2009, p. 184).
However, as the result of the market crash, USA securities firms are
probably more cost conscious and aware of the need for concern with a
revenue mix that will allow them to meet competition, not only at the
national level, but in the international sphere as well (Young, 1991, p.
130).
The article by Coad and Herbert suggests the identification of cost and
profit centers, the development of budgetary control and the monthly
reporting of actual costs and revenue compared with budgets as
possible drivers of cost consciousness. Moreover, the quote by Young
suggests that a market crash (i.e. an exogenous force) may act as a
driver of cost consciousness.
The drivers that were inferred from the study by Coad and Herbert (2009)
are examples of cybernetic controls (Malmi and Brown, 2008). Malmi and
Brown suggest that management control systems (MCSs) can be viewed as
a package composed of five main elements that influence or guide
employee behavior, namely, culture controls, administrative controls,
r ing controls. Moreover, our literature review provided additional evidence of
e the role of MCSs as a package in the driving of cost consciousness. The
w following points synthesizes these drivers by considering the framework of
a Malmi and Brown and by taking into account both endogenous and
r exogenous forces that fall outside of the MCSs:
d (1) Management control systems (drawn from Malmi and Brown, 2008)
/ • Culture:
c – an activity costing philosophy (Staubus, 1990); and
o
m – informal authority (Abernethy and Vagnoni, 2004).
p • Planning controls:
e – Downsizing (Antonacopoulou, 2001).
n
s
a
t
i
o
n
,
c
y
b
e
r
n
e
t
i
c
c
o
n
t
r
o
l
s
a
n
d
p
l
a
n
n
QRAM • Cybernetic controls:
12,1 – Setting and meeting prudent budgetary goals and
financial targets (Woodward, 1982; Coombs, 1987;
McNair, 1991; Ogden, 1995; Llewellyn, 1998; Carmona
et al., 2002; Marginson and Ogden, 2005; Jeacle and
Carter, 2012).
66 – Establishing mandatory submission of periodical financial
and cost status reports (Fleischman et al., 1995;
Kurunmäki et al., 2003; Ezzamel et al., 2004).
– Developing business performance measures and indices
(Carmona et al., 1997; Andon et al., 2007; Chua and
Mahama, 2007).
– Using more sophisticated costing and cost allocation

techniques including direct and standard costing (Brummet,
1955; Coombs, 1987; Innes and Mitchell, 1990; Arai, 2006;
Van Helden, 1997; Ezzamel et al., 2004; Bryer, 2006; Nor-
Aziah and Scapens, 2007; Fleischman et al., 2008; Suomala
et al., 2010).
– Implementing costing systems such as activity-based cost
management, case-mix accounting systems, product-budgeting
systems and target cost management (Staubus, 1990; Lowe and
Doolin, 1999; Chan et al., 2000; Nandhakumar and Jones, 2001;
Ezzamel et al., 2004; Groot and Budding, 2004; Chenhall and
Euske, 2007; Lehtonen, 2007; Nor-Aziah and Scapens, 2007; van
der Steen, 2011).
• Reward and compensation:
– Establishing output-based incentives (Wood, 1996).
• Administrative controls:
– Training workers with necessary cost management, budgeting,
planning and problem-solving skills (Shields and Young, 1994;
Tavana et al., 1996; Ezzamel et al., 2004, Fleischman et al., 2008;
Jakobsen, 2012).
(2) Endogenous forces:
• Employee turnover, increasing departmental costs and
intra-organizational competition (Stone, 1956; Smith et al.,
1981).
(3) Exogenous forces:
• Labor unions, consumer demand, increase in global competition,
shortage of resources, inflation, economic depressions and reduction
in tax subsidies and other state regulations (Legge, 1970; Khandwalla,
1973; Smith et al., 1981; Young, 1981; Summers, 1989; Young, 1991;
McDermott et al., 1997; West and Dedrick, 2000; Tallon, 2010; Conrad
and Guven-Uslu, 2011).
With respect to the cultural controls of MCSs, implementing a new costing philosophy
in the organization may be considered as the institutionalization of a new
organizational belief or set of values. Furthermore, although downsizing is not a
planning control per se, it can be considered as part of short- and long-term planning
controls. According to Chalos and Chen (2002), companies may downsize in an
attempt to
improve their
short-term
cash-flow.
Moreover, De
Meuse et al.
(1994, p. 527)
state that
“downsizing is
more likely to
be effective
when it is part
of an
organization’s
overall long-
term strategic
planning process”. Also, the table shows the many examples of cybernetic Cost
controls
found in the literature and highlights one example of how cost consciousness consciousne
can be ss
driven through the rewards and compensation element of MCSs. In
addition, the
training of workers to improve their cost management, budgeting,
planning and
problem-solving skills can be considered as an administrative control given
that these
trainings direct employee behavior by specifying how tasks should be
performed.
Finally, other drivers that fall outside the MCSs have been classified as 67
endogenous and
exogenous forces. It is worth noting that all of the exogenous forces seem to
exhibit a
negative connotation.
Results of cost consciousness
The review allowed the identification of the consequences or results associated

with the
notion of cost consciousness:
By far the most striking aspect of the doctors’ attitude to the management control data
is their
unequivocal endorsement of the view that cost-consciousness amongst doctors is
increasing
and that this is a good thing. This belief was articulated strongly in all the
clinic chief
interviews. It was frequently stated that only by collecting detailed data on how
costs are
incurred across different activities could potential for savings be identified, and
only by
making the savings could the use of further resources for new procedures be
guaranteed
(Coombs, 1987, p. 400).
However, approaches to [Horizontal Organization] HO do not seem as
concerned about
building a cost consciousness as are the proponents of [Activity Based Cost
Management]
ABCM. Cost consciousness is seen to lead to distraction and a myopic vision
of the
organization. To the advocates of HO, accounting may improve understanding of
product
costs, although this is by no means certain, and is likely to be useful only for those
products
that have relatively routine activities (Chenhall 2008, p. 529).
While the quote of Coombs provides evidence of a positive result associated
with cost
consciousness (i.e. the identification of potential for savings), the quote by
Chenhall
associates cost consciousness with a negative result. The following points
provide a
• better
summary of the positive anduse of cost
negative informationassociated
consequences for pricing decisions
with an (Groot and Budding,
increase in cost 2004);
consciousness: • clearer understanding of the connection between costs and
1) P operational activities (Andon et al., 2007);
o • creation of potential for improved efficiency in the use of
s resources (Kurunmäki et al., 2003);
i • enhanced understanding of costs (Chenhall and Euske, 2007);
t • faster response to market needs (Miller, 1987);
i • higher efficiency in profit centers (Lehtonen, 2007);
v
e • identification of potential for savings (Coombs, 1987);
• improved monitoring of spending behavior (Nor-Aziah and
r Scapens, 2007); and
e • proactivity in the use of financial measures (Andon et al., 2007).
s
u
l
t
s
:
QRAM (2) Negative results:
12,1 • being forced to pursue union-avoidance strategies (Murray and Reshef,
1988);
• decreased autonomy of managers and giving them the
impression of lack of trust (Nor-Aziah and Scapens, 2007);
68 • distraction and myopic vision of the organization (Chenhall,
2008);
• downsizing (Worrell et al., 1991);
• increased difficulty in trusting organizational staff and
redistributing authority to support creative skills that could
improve customer service (Knights and McCabe, 1997);
• misunderstanding the implications of technological change (Morgan,

1988);
• reduction of demand for services (Aidemark, 2001);
• restriction of ability to respond to customer requirements
(Nandhakumar and Jones, 2001); and
• under-spending budgets at the expense of obtaining better
returns (Ruggins, 1973).
The above-mentioned points might mislead the reader, as it shows the same
number of positive and negative results associated with cost consciousness.
These results, however, represent only the explicit consequences identified in
the literature. In many cases, authors implicitly associate the notion with
positive results:
Although “prudent” budgetary goals and other financial targets were set
by the accounting function to instil cost consciousness throughout the
firm, there was little formal accountability or reward attached to
budgetary performance (Marginson and Ogden, 2005, p. 438).
Other positive and implicit associations can be found, for example, in
studies by Conrad and Guven-Uslu (2011, p. 49), Chenhall et al. (2010, p.
749), Coad and Herbert (2009, p. 184), Chua and Mahama (2007, p. 64),
Arai (2006, p. 441), Mouly and Sankaran (2004, p. 1452), McNair (1991, p.
646), and Smith (1980, p. 210). Furthermore, the review did not identify any
implicit negative consequences associated with the notion. In addition, it is
interesting to note that downsizing has been considered both as a driver
and a result of cost consciousness.
Finally, Figure 1 summarizes the determinants, interpretations
and results that management accountants have associated with the
notion.
Based on our key findings, we would like to suggest a definition of cost
consciousness from a management accounting perspective. Cost consciousness
is a phenomenon that is typically supported by management control systems
and may result in an improved understanding on the financial effects of
organizational activities and external contingencies. Moreover, the phenomenon
of cost consciousness may be considered as an element or even an example of
an organizational culture. This broad definition already frames the concept in a
narrower conceptual realm when compared to the two denotations that have
been rescued
in this work.
The definition
follows a
management
accounting
perspective
and therefore
it might not
be well suited
when
discussing
cost
consciousness
in other
disciplines.
Cost
consciousness
6
9
Figure
1.
Summary of
determinants,
interpretations
and results of
cost
consciousness
QRAM Discussion and conclusions
12,1 The purpose of this paper was to develop the concept of cost
consciousness by conducting an integrative literature review. While cost
consciousness’s linguistic head (i.e. consciousness) explains its abstract
nature, the construct’s dependent (i.e. cost) allows the notion to serve
fields where cost behavior makes a key unit of analysis. One of these
70 fields is management accounting, where cost management and MCSs
are topics of major interest.
Our literature review identified the definitions, interpretations, drivers and
results that management accounting scholars have associated with cost
consciousness in the past. With respect to the definitions and interpretations, we
identified only two management accounting-related articles that provided
seemingly explicit definitions of cost consciousness. These definitions are
economic judgment of operations (Kurunmäki, 1999) and economic efficiency

(Nor-Aziah and Scapens, 2007). In addition, we inferred the interpretations of
cost consciousness that other management accounting scholars suggest in their
writings. Our analysis exposed two schools of thought. While the majority of
authors suggest a narrow interpretation of the notion – as cost reduction – many
still support a more holistic understanding of the construct. Within this regard,
we favor the more holistic view because, intuitively (perhaps due to its linguistic
composition), cost consciousness brings into one’s mind a broader idea than
simply cost reduction. Moreover, our review also identified some associations
between cost consciousness and organizational culture. As explained by
Hofstede (1998) and Järvenpää (2007), multiple cultures and subcultures may
exist in one organization or even in a single subunit of an organization. Also,
Wilkinson et al. (1996, p. 69) argue that modern organizations “are becoming
more culturally diverse than they have ever been”. Hence, cost consciousness
may be considered as an example of one of these many cultures or subcultures.
Furthermore, we reviewed the drivers or determinants that management
accounting scholars have associated with cost consciousness. The study
identified only two studies (Shields and Young, 1994; Abernethy and Vagnoni,
2004) evaluating the drivers of a particular interpretation of the notion (as they
used the same instrument for the evaluation). Moreover, the management
accounting literature seems to suggest a strong role of MCSs in the driving of
cost consciousness. Specifically, cybernetic controls were identified as drivers in
multiple references, suggesting the possibility of accelerating or supporting the
institutionalization of cost consciousness through the implementation of
particular MCSs. In addition, the review identified other possible drivers of cost
consciousness that reflect culture controls, planning controls, reward and
compensation mechanisms, administrative controls, endogenous forces and
exogenous forces – the latter two falling outside the view of MCSs as a package.
However, it is important to consider the causal relationships
between these drivers and cost consciousness. For example, case-
mix accounting systems, which are associated as drivers by
Lehtonen (2007):
[ facilitate management philosophies or techniques, leading to […] the
delegation of more budgetary and accounting activities to departmental
managers and hence better increased budgetary participation (Lowe and
Doolin, 1999, p. 186).
Here arises one interesting relationship, as Shields and Young (1994) identified
cost budget participation as a possible driver of cost consciousness. One could
wonder if
case-mix accounting systems act as a driver of the phenomenon via Cost
budget
participation. Therefore, although the drivers identified in this review consciousne
could be ss
considered as possible antecedents of cost consciousness, the causality
should be
assessed with caution.
Moreover, the review identified positive and negative results associated
with cost
consciousness. Many of the positive results (e.g. better use of cost information,
enhanced
understanding of costs and improved monitoring of spending behavior) 71
are not
surprising given that cost consciousness has been associated with the
implementation
of management control systems. Other results such as “proactivity in the use of
financial
measures” could support research bridging management accounting with
behavioral
theory (Caplan, 1968). Moreover, the negative consequences are an
important
contribution of this paper because, one can reasonably argue, most people
tend to
associate cost consciousness with positive consequences. Given the
identification of
negative results associated with a decrease in trust, this paper could provide
support for
future research interested in evaluating the relationship between trust and
accounting
information or management accounting systems (Burns and Scapens, 2000;
Seal et al.,
1999; Vélez et al., 2008). Moreover, the association between cost
consciousness and
downsizing is also interesting, as the latter may work both as a driver and as a
result of
the phenomenon. In addition, layoffs have been studied with respect
to their
consequences on financial performance, profit margins, expense rations,
employee
productivity, operating performance and market value (Worrell et al., 1991;
Cascio, 1993;
Wayhan and Werner, 2000; Chen et al., 2001; De Meuse et al., 2004; Hillier et al.,
2007).
Therefore, future research could study the implications of cost consciousness
on these
variables via layoff decisions.
We would like to raise some additional points with respect to the
implications for
further research. First, the literature of cost consciousness from a
management
accounting perspective could be supported by an analogous literature
review on
conceptually similar notions such as cost awareness. It would be interesting
to take
stock of the similarities and the differences with respect to the
associations that
management accounting scholars have made with these two notions.
Second,
researchers might be well served in taking note of notions that are linguistically
similar
to cost consciousness. For example, market orientation and cost
consciousness are
endocentric compounds formed by a conceptually challenging linguistic
head (i.e.
orientation and consciousness), and a more concrete dependent (i.e. market
and cost).
However, the state of conceptual development of cost consciousness and
market
orientation is, for now, very different. On the one hand, market orientation has
received
considerable attention since the 1950s (
witnessed an
important increase of academic and practitioner interest since the 1980s
(Harris and
Ogbonna, 2001
state of
mind” or a “philosophy of business management” (
this paper
has shown, the present conceptual state of cost consciousness is very
different when
compared to market orientation. Future studies could review how the
conceptual
development of market orientation (or other similar notions) has been
conducted in an
attempt to assess how cost consciousness could be developed in the future.
Third, cost
consciousness has been used across various academic disciplines including
healthcare
and medicine. Hence, our understanding of cost consciousness might find
support from
external perspectives. The common use of cost consciousness in health-
care-related
QRAM journals might be read as a manifestation of the emergence of the New Public
Management. Perhaps, whereas costs have been known to hold a central role in
12,1 profit-seeking privately held companies, public sector organizations – such as
hospitals and other health-care centers – may have had, at times, less
regulation with respect to cost management. Consequently, cost considerations
in the public sector (e.g. public hospitals) might become noteworthy and thus of
72 interest also in scientific literature. Also, clear conflicts are likely to arise with
respect to the discussion of cost consciousness in the health-care literature
where the monetary value of life and its relationship with cost consciousness
might raise interesting analyses. Fourth, future research could conduct
theorization exercises exploring how cost consciousness may be embedded in
an organization. For example, as cybernetic controls (e.g. management
accounting systems) seem to play an important role as drivers of cost
consciousness, institutional theory could support researchers in analyzing the

elements and processes involved in the institutionalization of cost consciousness
in an organization. Burns and Scapens (2000) discuss how management
accounting systems are involved in the routinization of rules and routines into
taken-for-granted ways of thinking (i.e. institutions). Moreover, Busco and
Scapens (2011) incorporate exogenous forces into the framework of Burns and
Scapens (2000) and, in addition, consider organizational culture and its
relationship with institutions. Therefore, given the association of cost
consciousness with organizational culture, and the identification of exogenous
forces as possible drivers of cost consciousness, these studies could be valuable
for future research considering these types of theoretical exercises.
This paper, serving as an exploratory study, faces some limitations. Given that no
prior work has focused on the conceptual development of cost consciousness, it was
necessary to infer most of the interpretations, drivers and results that management
accounting scholars have associated with the notion. These inferences are
problematic for a couple of reasons. First, it is quite probable that many authors did
not allocate too much thought in opting to use the cost consciousness concept in
their studies. Hence, the drivers, interpretations and results could have been
associated with similar concepts such as cost awareness. Furthermore, some of the
inferences required a considerable amount of freedom as it was not always possible
to be sure if, for example, a particular driver was being associated with the notion or
if it acted in parallel with the driving of cost consciousness. Therefore, although we
tried to be as thorough as possible in identifying the relationships, it might be
possible to criticize this approach for the considerable amount of subjective
interpretation. However, we believe that, given the exploratory nature of this study, it
was necessary to uncover as many possible hints from the literature, even if this
action resulted in some associations that would create debate. Finally, the definition
of cost consciousness presented in this paper has been constructed from a
management accounting perspective. Hence, MCSs take a central role in this
denotation that would be different had we taken another perspective.
Notes
1. Some sources may refer to search-phrases as keywords.
2. The search in EBSCO included checking the boxes for “Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed)
Journals” and “Academic Journal” in the “Publication Type” option. The options chosen
for the second set of results were “TI Title”, “SU Subject terms” and “AB Abstract”. The
search in Elsevier SD included choosing the “Journals” tab and checking the box named
“Article”.
The option
chosen for the second set of results was “Abstract, Title, Keywords”. The search in Cost
JSTOR
included un-checking the box named “include only content I can access” and consciousne
checking the box ss
named “Articles”. The options chosen for the second set of results were
“Item title”,
“Abstract” and “Caption”. The search in the ABI database was conducted through
ProQuest
by checking the boxes “Peer-Reviewed”, “Scholarly Journals” and “ABI/INFORM
Complete”.
The options chosen for the second set of results were “Abstract – AB”, “Publication
title –
OUB” and “Tag – TAG”. 73
3. This distinction was partly drawn by the work of Walsh (1995) who
differentiates between individuals, groups, organization and industry.
4. The “individual/collective” term is drawn from Lee and Roth (2007) who
discuss the dialectic between individuals and collectives.
5. Arai (2006, p. 446) does state that “costing is not a process itself but it is intended to
strengthen the recognition of the importance of cost management (that is, cost-
consciousness) among medical staff: this fact coincides with previous research
(Coombs, 1987)”. However, as Coombs (1987, pp. 395, 396, 400) does include the
word “cost consciousness” in the text, we decided not to consider the quote by Arai as
a denotation of the construct.
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Appendix Cost
consciousness
Management
The Academy of Manag
No. of identified articles No. of articles invalid Final sample Journal
Name of journal (N 233) for analysis (N 64) (N 169) The Academy of Manag
Review
Abacus 2 1 1 The Accounting Review
Accounting and Business Research 2 0 2 The British Accounting
Accounting Horizons 4 2 2 The Journal of Bank Cost &
Accounting, Auditing and Management
Accountability Accounting
Journal 18 7 11
Accounting, Organizations and 33 9 24
Society
Administrative Science Quarterly 12 5 7
Business Process Management 2 0 2
Journal
Communications of the AIS 1 0 1
Contemporary Accounting 1 0 1
Research
Critical Perspectives in Accounting 7 4 3
European Accounting Review 9 3 6
Financial Accountability and 4 2 2
Management
Information Systems Journal 1 1 0
Information Systems Research 2 0 2
International Journal of Accounting
Information Systems 4 2 2
International Journal of Intelligent
Systems in Accounting Finance &
Management 1 1 0
International Journal of Operations
and
Production Management 10 3 7
Journal of Accounting Research 1 1 0
Journal of Accounting, Auditing
and
Finance 2 0 2
Journal of Business Finance and
Accounting 2 1 1
Journal of Management Accounting
Research 4 2 2
Journal of Management
Information
Systems 8 1 7
Journal of Management Studies 15 4 11
Logistics Information Management 1 0 1
Management Accounting Research 23 4 19
Management Science 8 0 8
MIS Quarterly 6 1 5
Omega 4 0 4
Production and Operations 2 2 0
Management
Qualitative Research in Accounting
and
Table AI. List of reviewed journals and number of scrutinized articles in each
85
QRAM About the authors
Santiago Velasquez holds a Dr (Tech.) in Industrial Engineering and Management. He
12,1 is a Research Fellow in the Cost Management Center (CMC) in the Department of
Industrial Management at the Tampere University of Technology. His interests include
cost consciousness, management accounting and institutional theory. Santiago
Velasquez is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:
santiago.velasquez@gmail.com
86 Petri Suomala holds a Dr (Tech.) in Industrial Engineering and Management.
He is the Professor of (Management) Accounting and Business Administration as
well as the head of Department of Industrial Management at Tampere University
of Technology. His current research interests include (life-cycle) cost
management and management accounting, as well as their utilization in
industrial companies and other organizations. Dr Suomala has published several
articles in international journals.
Marko Järvenpää, PhD, is a Professor in Accounting in Jyväskylä University School
of Business and Economics. He obtained PhD in Turku School of Economics. He

studies various topics of management accounting, including changing roles of
management accountants, strategic aspects of accounting, management control,
performance measurement, cost management and environmental accounting. He
typically uses case and field study methods.
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Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management

Cost consciousness: conceptual development from a management

Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by

Industrial Management Department, Tampere, University of Received 4 July 2013

Cost Management Center, Tampere University of Technology,

consciousness is a concept characterized by vagueness and lack of clarity. This

The literature review on cost consciousness is supported by a cross-

Title, abstract or keyword

management accounting scholars interpret the construct, we have excluded

Cost consciousness from a management accounting

PSP is an established, large, geographically-dispersed and labour-intensive organisation

Hence, the authors define cost consciousness as economic

The external pressures help form the cognitive appreciation (or

Drivers of cost consciousness

– Using more sophisticated costing and cost allocation

The review allowed the identification of the consequences or results associated

• misunderstanding the implications of technological change (Morgan,

economic judgment of operations (Kurunmäki, 1999) and economic efficiency

consciousness, institutional theory could support researchers in analyzing the

the Association for Computational Linguistics and Seventeenth

Accounting Review, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 94-99.

Rom, A. and Rohde, C. (2007), “Management accounting and integrated

inter-organizational trust builders in evolving relationships: evidence from a

of Business and Economics. He obtained PhD in Turku School of Economics. He

Business Excellence, ahead of print. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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