This study analyzed the relationship between environmental and cognitive factors and the entrepreneurial intentions of business students from the perspective of the Planned Behavior Theory. Data were collected in the classroom through a questionnaire that was distributed to 229 freshmen in the first year of the Accounting, Economics and Administration course, and the analysis was carried out using the Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM). It was found that education and conducive business environments are predictive of cognitive factors, such as a favorable evaluation of an entrepreneurial career choice and social pressures, with indirect effects on intentions to undertake entrepreneurship (EI). In addition, entrepreneurial intentions are influenced by cognitive factors, such as a positive evaluation of an entrepreneurial career and perceived entrepreneurial ability. This demonstrates that environmental factors potentiate cognitive factors and, indirectly, the intention to undertake entrepreneurship (EI). It was identified that public policies do not influence the perceived entrepreneurial capacity and that social pressures are not predictive of the surveyed students’ intentions to undertake entrepreneurship. These data require the attention of universities and governments to create environments that are conducive to entrepreneurship and students’ decisions to engage with sustainable projects and business models. It is concluded that environmental factors are predictive of cognitive aspects with positive and significant effects on the entrepreneurial career intentions of university students. An entrepreneurial attitude and the ability to transform ideas into actions create space for the promotion of a student micro-entrepreneur and the cultivation of a sustainable entrepreneurial culture in higher education.

This study aimed to analyze how the interface occurs between the management control systems (MCSs) and the strategy and performance measures in a family business, from the perspective of Contingency Theory. The relevance of the theme lies in understanding how the use of the managerial levers from the Levers of Control (LOC) model (Simons, 1995) is perceived by the senior management of a family business in the interface with the strategy and performance measures. In terms of its impact in the area, this article broadens the field of research that uses the LOC model together with strategy and performance measures in family businesses. The research methodology used combined methods, operationalized by the case study procedure. The content analysis was performed using coded categories based on the literature and selected passages from the interviews, observation, and documents, by means of qualitative analysis software. As a result, it was observed that the family management designed by the controlling owner, with an entrepreneurial vision, working together (father and sons), and the organizational values of the family unit (belief systems), showed particularities of the family-business duality that contributed to the implementation of the strategy and the use of performance measures. It is also inferred that the two systems (diagnostic controls and interactive controls) are complementary in the organization and that the “customized control” produced by the integrated management system is an adjustment of the MCS to the contingencies in order to enable the interface with the strategy and performance measures. The study revealed that the family values present in the management take form in the belief systems that shape the use of the MCSs and in the strategic behavior of the organization, which is an element that is barely discussed in Simons (1995) and opens up room for new research.

This study analyzes the effects of psychological capital and managerial attitudes on the relationship between budgetary participation and management performance in budgeting activities. The study addresses a gap that exists in the budgeting research, tackling the effects of individuals’ mental states and behaviors on the relationship between budgetary participation and management performance in an integrated way. The interactive effects of cognitive and personal, behavioral, and environmental factors enable us to understand the factors present within the budgetary context that influence the relationship between budgetary participation and management performance, which provides an explanation for the conflicting results found in the literature, denoting in which conditions the effects of participation on performance can be obtained. The research innovates by evaluating, based on an interactionist approach, predictive factors for management performance within the budgetary context, contemplating the analysis of cognitive and personal (psychological capital), behavioral (managerial attitudes), and environmental (budgetary participation) factors, providing an explanation for the effects of budgetary participation on management performance in budgeting activities. A survey was conducted with 245 controller professionals from industries in the South Region of Brazil, chosen using the LinkedIn social network, and the data were analyzed via structural equation modeling (SEM). This revealed the positive joint indirect effects of psychological capital and of managerial attitudes on the relationship between budgetary participation and performance. The results converge with the social cognitive theory (SCT) approach, as it can be inferred that cognitive and personal aspects influence human decisions and the level of effort employed by managers in activities carried out within the budgetary context. The results offer support for organizations to direct resources toward organizational practices that seek to improve managers’ positive mental states, which influence behavioral factors and their job performance.

Despite changes in the environment and management accounting practices, studies indicate that management accounting systems do not change or change at a much slower rate than expected. The stability of the management accounting systems used by companies may relate to resistance to changing these systems. This study analyzes the factors that contribute to resistance to implementing an integrated management system from the perspective of institutional theory, grounded in the old institutional economics. Methodologically, this study provides a qualitative assessment of the problem and a descriptive analysis of the resistance factors through a case-study approach. The data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analyzed through content analysis. Two companies were selected for this study due to their differing characteristics. The following seven factors were analyzed for resistance to implementing integrated management systems: institutional power, ontological insecurity, trust, inertia, lack of knowledge, acceptance of routines and decoupling. However, there was no evidence to characterize hierarchical power. The research findings indicate that changing management accounting systems, through the implementation of an integrated management system, faces internal resistance in these organizations. Each factor varies in intensity but is permanently present in these companies, such as ontological insecurity, trust, inertia, lack of knowledge, acceptance of routines and decoupling. These factors are awakened when the change process begins and, if they gather enough force, can stop the change.

Este estudo analisa a influência de fatores contingenciais no desempenho de municípios ao longo de três mandatos governamentais. Consideram-se fatores contingenciais internos (liderança organizacional, estrutura e porte organizacional) e externo (ambiente). Os dados de 293 municípios, com 3.516 observações, relativos aos três últimos mandatos encerrados, foram analisados pela regressão de dados em painel. Os resultados revelaram influência significativa de fatores contingenciais no desempenho dos municípios. Os fatores ambiente (IDHM), liderança organizacional (idade do prefeito), estrutura (despesa de pessoal per capita) e porte organizacional (densidade populacional) influenciaram positivamente o desempenho municipal (receita corrente líquida per capita). A relação positiva e significativa entre estrutura e desempenho municipal indica que o corte de gastos com pessoal nos municípios estudados não aumentará seu desempenho. Para as variáveis de controle, destaca-se que nos municípios em que o partido do prefeito é o mesmo do governador há maior possibilidade de obtenção de recursos. As demais variáveis de controle atreladas às características do prefeito não obtiveram significância estatística. Assim, a reeleição do prefeito e sua direção partidária não influenciaram no desempenho municipal.