The transition to performance management in Eastern European countries (in Romanian)

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on how to apply the research process for the elaboration of a theoretical explanation in studies on performance management and management control systems. This is important because ambitious theoretical research tends to require explanatory study results, but previous research frameworks provide little guidance on this, potentially facilitating poorly defined research projects and a lack of common vocabulary and criteria for study evaluation. The methodology was undertaken by an examination of the literature to review empirical studies dealing with PM in ex-communist countries in the EEC. Its illustrated framework and application make the systematic logic of the research process visible and accessible to researchers. The authors explain how the framework supports the shift from empirical description to theoretical explanation during the research process and where the three levels could open up spaces for positioning new practices and conceptual and theoretical innovations. The framework provides guidance for a research explanatory design and a theory-building purpose, and has been developed in response to recent industry criticisms that highlight the large gap between cutting-edge practice and the delayed state of theory. It offers interdisciplinary vocabulary and evaluation criteria that can be applied by any researcher in accounting and management, whether it pursues critical, interpretive or positivist research and whether it primarily uses qualitative or quantitative research methods.