The use of management control systems for enabling users to assess the trustworthiness of actors on platforms

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate how platform organisations use control systems to create trustworthy platforms. This is done by studying how platform organisations use management control systems for enabling users to assess the trustworthiness of actors on platforms. Platform is a new phenomenon where users, often strangers, interact with each other and the behaviour of the users constitutes a large part of the operations. Therefore, the management control system is crucial for the platform organisation for managing the behaviour of the users. Further, the interaction between strangers on the platform creates a need for the platform to enable users to assess the trustworthiness of other users in order for the users to be willing to participate on the platform. The focus of this study is, therefore, the use of management control systems for assessing trustworthiness. To study this, a qualitative research design has been adopted. Interviews with six companies within three different business models have been conducted. A Framework for Analysis consisting of four different types of management control systems and four different characteristics of trustworthiness is applied to analyse the empirical findings. Based on the findings and analysis, it can be concluded that management control systems are useful for enabling assessment of trustworthiness of users. Also, a pattern of the management control system used in each business model and how these patterns differ between the business models have been found. Moreover, the study has contributed to previous research by adopting the framework of Merchant & Van der Stede (2012) in a new context, the firm boundaryspanning context of platform organisations. Further, the findings have created a wider view of what is important for assessing trustworthiness of the users.