A review of psychological theories in management accounting research

The present paper is an introduction to the field of useful psychology theories in management accounting studies aimed at their identification and application. Although other social science theories are used to explain and predict behavior in management accounting research, psychology is different from them and concentrates on individual’s mental phenomena instead of organizational and objective ones. This is a qualitative research based on theoretical studies relevant to the topic that takes shape through identifying and summarizing relevant literature in psychology and their application in management accounting. Based on this research, psychological theories in management accounting have been classified in terms of incentive effects and information impacts. In literature, incentive effects of reference points, the internal contradiction or inconsistency between mental representation and behavior have been broached and analyzed in terms of the theories of target-setting, the ideal level, organizational justice, prospect, cognitive abnormality, predication and cognition of the environment. Issues such as the effect of information on decision-making, judgments, search method and processing with limited logic as well as the individuals’ mental representation of the environment and organization have been addressed and expressed in the context of social and cognitive psychology theories. Results indicate that psychological theories with deeper focus on and deeper understanding of individuals’ mental phenomena, rather than organizational objective phenomena, can be used to describe and analyze the causes and effects of management accounting techniques. Too, the effect of a certain type of management accounting method on individuals’ behavior may not depend only on the quality of formal and objective goals for action and the factors that influence people's welfare; rather the method of understanding of people from practical methods and how attention, cognition or incentives stimulate people are also effective .As a result, it becomes increasingly apparent that multiple psychological theories have potential relationship with each of management accounting methods