Preventing a "derailment" of strategy: A single-case study on how green early-stage companies can drive a proactive sustainability strategy using MCS

Abstract: This paper aims to fulfill two interrelated purposes by investigating (i) how green early-stage companies can use MCS to maintain a proactive sustainability strategy in a high-growth setting, and (ii) how green early-stage companies can design MCS to maintain employees' intrinsic motivation for sustainability. By applying the theoretical lens of the Object of Control framework and intrinsic motivation, the single-case study explores how sustainability-related MCS is employed to drive sustainability strategy and how controls can be designed to maintain employees' intrinsic motivation for sustainability. The study contributes to three research areas. Firstly, we contribute to the commercially focused literature on early-stage firms by addressing how MCS can support objectives beyond profit. Secondly, we contribute to research on the interplay of MCS design and employee motivation, finding that employee intrinsic motivation for sustainability in purpose-driven companies, such as green early-stage firms, is critical for strategy maintenance. In addition, we find how MCS design can be tailored to promote employee intrinsic motivation for sustainability. Thirdly, we contribute to the scarce and ambiguous research on the role of MCS in driving a proactive sustainability strategy by providing a new and contrasting empirical setting that evidences a supportive role of MCS.