Levers of Control, Counterproductive Work Behavior, and Work Performance: Evidence From Indonesian Higher Education Institutions

The low academic ranking compared to academicians in other disciplines is a work performance issue encountered by accounting academics, particularly in developing countries such as Indonesia. Besides, executing performance systems as a control mechanism mandated by the government also affected academic counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and performance. However, there is a dearth of empirical verification concerning the connection of control systems to the CWB and the performance of accounting academics. Therefore, building upon the job demands-resources theory, this study examines the association among levers of control as institutional performance mechanisms, CWB, and the work performance of academics. A self-administered online survey was conducted on 238 Indonesian accounting academics. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized to run the analyses. This study's crucial findings depicted the boundaries and interactive control systems as substantial factors to mitigate the tendency of academics to engage in CWB and revealed evidence concerning the negative effect of CWB on work performance. Subsequently, CWB plays a critical role in mediating the positive relationship between those two control systems and performance. The boundaries and interactive levers of control boost performance due to the systems' success in mitigating academics' involvement in CWB. The findings are relevant to higher education top management in aligning management control systems with the proper code of conduct and designing performance systems that enable academic freedom, collegial culture, autonomy, and participation to escalate performance. Shifting the control systems' paradigm toward these characteristics will mitigate academics' CWB and improve their performance. How different factors like control mechanisms, counterproductive work behavior, and job performance relate to each other in Indonesian universitiesThe study looks at how accounting academics in countries like Indonesia struggle with lower rankings compared to academics in other fields. It also examines how government-mandated performance systems affect their behavior and performance at work. However, there hasn't been much research on how these control systems relate to academics' behavior and performance. So, using a theory called job demands-resources theory, the study explores how control systems, counterproductive work behavior (CWB), and job performance are connected for accounting academics. They surveyed 238 accounting academics in Indonesia and used a statistical method called partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze the data. The main findings showed that certain control systems, like boundaries and interactive controls, help reduce academics' tendency to engage in counterproductive behavior and improve their performance. Counterproductive behavior, in turn, negatively affects performance. So, these control systems indirectly improve performance by reducing counterproductive behavior. The study suggests that higher education managers should align control systems with ethical standards and create performance systems that promote academic freedom, collaboration, autonomy, and participation. By doing this, they can reduce counterproductive behavior and enhance academic performance.