The Enabling Control Systems and Work Performance in Higher Education: The Role of Intrinsic Motivation in Overcoming Task Challenges

Abstract

Current challenges for accounting schools and their academicians, especially in developing countries like Indonesia, include the deteriorating trend of student quality and the research left behind compared to other business school disciplines. Meanwhile, how the institutions design their control systems affects those performances because the proper systems escalate intrinsic motivation and mitigate counterproductive work behaviour (CWB). However, there is a paucity of studies discussing the connection between control practices and academics' work-related outcomes in higher education. Therefore, this study focuses on the beliefs and interactive control systems, intrinsic motivation, task difficulty, CWB, and performance. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is employed to analyse 251 online survey responses from Indonesian accounting academics. The findings depicted the positive association between the beliefs and interactive control systems as the enabling control practices and intrinsic motivation, while this motivation significantly mitigated academics' CWB. The interaction between task difficulty and intrinsic motivation decreases the adverse effect of task difficulty on CWB. The lower CWB is associated with higher performance. The findings highlight the critical function of intrinsic motivation in connecting the enabling control systems with academics' work-related outcomes. Overlooking the role of intrinsic motivation in the control design leads to the systems' dysfunction.