Building a common ground – Towards an agent-based framework for management control research

In this contribution to the 2026 CIME Workshop, we advocate for the use of agent-based modeling (ABM) in management accounting research. We demonstrate the methodological potential of ABM by comparing two formalizations of social influence: a replication of the simple contagion mechanism from Davis and Pesch’s (2013) fraud dynamics model and an extended version incorporating descriptive norms. Our findings support prior claims that ABM facilitates the comparison of outcomes based on different modeling assumptions. However, the critical question of which model best represents reality remains unresolved. Paralleling developments in the domain of cost system design research, we propose a systematic research agenda that starts from the Davis and Pesch (2013) model and extends it along three dimensions influencing individual decision-making: individual, organizational, and social factors. This structured approach aims to leverage existing knowledge, enhance comparability of results, and progressively advance understanding by explicitly addressing differences in model assumptions, thereby opening a path for enriched dialogue and collaborative theory development.

Subjects

ABM

management accounting

fraud

modeling framework

theory development

DDC Class

650: Management, Public Relations

006.3: Artificial Intelligence

302: Social Interaction

Lizenz

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Publication version

publishedVersion

Name

2026-05-07_CIME 2026_Workshop_Eckert.pdf

Type

Main Article

Size

1.31 MB

Format

Adobe PDF

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Building a common ground – Towards an agent-based framework for management control research