to another level of analysis—the project level. In particular,
and contrary to the findings of Bisbe and Otley
(2004) at the organizational level, this study reports indirect
effects of organic project controls on performance
via innovativeness in exploratory settings. This study also
offers empirical evidence of existing tension, resulting from
the joint use of mechanistic and organic forms of control
that influence performance in exploratory and exploitative
innovation project settings, and thus clarifies how mechanistic
and organic forms of control interact at the project
level. Furthermore, examining project controls separately
in exploratory and exploitative innovation projects makes
it possible to study possible differences and thus enhances
our understanding of the role of MCS in two different innovation
settings.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows:
Section 2 provides a brief overview of extant literature,
resulting in the formulation of the hypotheses. Section 3
presents the design of the empirical survey study conducted
to collect data. Section 4 reports the tests of the
hypothesis. Sections 5 and 6 conclude the paper with a discussion
of the findings and their implications as well as
limitations and directions for future research.