From ‘Traditional’ Budgeting to ‘Better’ Budgeting: Navigating through ‘Stability’ and ‘Change’

Faced with criticisms on traditional budgeting, contemporary organisations have moved towards better budgeting and beyond budgeting practices. Drawing evidence from Citrus Lanka, a fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturing firm in Sri Lanka, this paper explores amid limitations of traditional budgeting, how and why the firm moved to better budgeting rather than embracing beyond budgeting. It adopts the qualitative methodology and case study approach and mobilises the theoretical notions; ‘stability’ and ‘change’ under institutional theory. The field data illustrate how Citrus Lanka instigated evolutionary changes (towards better budgeting) rather than revolutionary changes (towards beyond budgeting), witnessing ‘stability’ of budgeting and ‘change’ towards better budgeting. This paper contributes by adding to the burgeoning budgetary control literature and extends the use of institutional theory in management accounting research by espousing how the notions of ‘stability’ and ‘change’ can co-exist. The better budgeting practice presented in this paper is a pragmatic approach. It offers practitioner pointers to managers grappling with limitations of traditional budgeting and practical difficulties of beyond budgeting on improving budgetary control through better budgeting approaches. Such an understanding is useful for managers beyond the case study firm to those across different industries and nations in adapting to the ever-changing business environment by drawing on management accounting insights.

Stability and Change in Everyday Knowledge: From Taken for Granted to Social Representation

What do we talk about when we talk about everyday life? This chapter considers everyday life as a “metasystem” in Moscovici’s terms, a normative system that checks and organizes knowledge and thought. Looking at social representations theory, the chapter considers the structuring power of this metasystem, referring to two kinds of research where the absence (for deprived children) or suspension (in the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy) of everyday life causes delays in children’s development and dismay in adults. The suspension of ordinary life highlights the social representation of “normality.” The structure of the “everyday life” metasystem is largely taken for granted, and this calls into question the relationship between the taken-for-granted and the knowledge that constructs social representations or, in other words, between stability and change in common knowledge.

Cultural Consistency in Late-Life Declines in Positive Personality Traits

Personality has elements of both stability and change across the adult lifespan. There has also been evidence for terminal decline—late-life decreases in positive psychological characteristics. However, many of these studies have examined these patterns in primarily Western populations. The current study examined the consistency of age differences in positive personality traits (i.e., character strengths) across cultures. I examined 2,895,051 participants ranging in age from 13 to 100 (Mage = 34.31; 65.3% women) from 90 different countries. I reproduced patterns of terminal decline across cultures. In addition to mean differences between cultures (e.g., focusing on the present is associated with more positive traits [Mr = .45]), cultural characteristics often moderated the effects of age on positive personality traits. For example, terminal decline was more dramatic among people from collectivistic cultures and flatter among people from individualistic cultures. Results will be discussed in the context of cultural variation developmental processes.

Discrete Emotion Profiles in Old Age: Stability and Change for Better or Worse

Although discrete emotions can change in salience across adulthood, little is known about developmental shifts in the co-occurrence of multiple discrete emotions. The present study (n=389, Mage=73) adopted a person-centered approach to identify stability and change in commonly-occurring profiles of calmness, excitement, sadness, and anger. Daily emotions were assessed over 1-week periods at baseline and two years later. Latent class analyses yielded consistent 3-profile solutions at both waves: a positive emotion (high calmness-moderate excitement-low sadness and anger), a mixed emotion (moderate/high calmness-moderate excitement, sadness, and anger), and an apathetic emotion profile (low calmness, excitement, sadness, and anger). Latent transition analyses revealed both stability (82% remained in the same profile) and change (18% changed profiles) in profile membership. Higher baseline optimism and fewer chronic conditions were associated with adaptive changes in profile membership. Findings point to the importance of considering the co-occurrence of distinct emotions in studying emotional aging.