Year
2026
Abstract
This paper extends existing research on management control and ethics by examining the ethicality of performance measurement systems (PMSs). It contributes by offering a prescriptive lens for assessing the ethicality of PMSs, grounded in principlism—a mid-level ethical theory based on four prima facie duties: non-maleficence, beneficence, respect for autonomy, and justice. The ethicality of PMSs is analyzed through the lens of these principles, and their design is theorized as a means of achieving these ethical ends. The well-documented case of the PMS at France Télécom is used to illustrate this approach. The analysis highlights both the benefits and the challenges of applying principlism to PMSs in research and practice. Based on these insights, the paper outlines implications and lays out a research agenda for future theoretical and empirical work in management control. More broadly, the paper advances the literature on management control and ethics by introducing principlism as a foundation for prescriptive theorizing about the ethicality of PMSs.
CASARIN, V., LECA, B., LINDER, S. et MORARU-ARFIRE, A. (2026). A principlist perspective on the ethicality of performance measurement systems. Accounting Auditing Control, In press.