Adoption of the Costing System in the Context of the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2021–2022

Ndongala, Levy (2023). Adoption of the Costing System in the Context of the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2021–2022. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Service. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-856563

This research examines factors that influence the adoption of cost system sophistication and why such adoption among Congolese businesses, and the subsequent effects on non-financial performance. In this study, organisation is considered as a living organism, adaptive and evolutive. Therefore, the triangulation between contingency theory and complexity theory is used as a basis for conceptualisation, and an embedded mixed methods within the critical realism perspective for data collection among 201 businesses. The findings indicate that the majority of Congolese enterprises adopt a simplistic costing system sophistication. In addition, the adequacy of resources emerge as a pattern from the interplay between behaviour and contextual factors, which in return leads to the adoption of cost system sophistication and higher non-financial performance. Furthermore, findings indicate that there are three social structures- management knowledge norms, cultural values norms and business strategic norms- explicating the psycho-cultural mechanism leading to the adoption of an innovative costing system.

Data description (abstract)

Adoption of costing system in the context of DRC dataset is an academically driven cross sectional study on the adoption of an innovative accounting systems in developing countries. The evidence was collected in Democratic Republic of Congo, among 201 enterprises. Data collection aimed to unveil the contextual, organisational and behavioural factors explicating the adoption of a more sophisticated costing system and its subsequent effects on non-financial performance. In addition, this data collection aimed also to find out the generative mechanism underneath the correlation between the context and the costing systems. Two methods were used to collect data: survey questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. We used a systematic random sampling from a population frame of 1000 Congolese enterprises. Participants were firms' managers with expertise in costing systems. We had a response rate of 20.1%. Furthermore, a sample from the firms which adopted a cost system sophistication was extracted from the questionnaires for a follow up semi-structured interview. A thematic analysis was conducted on the topics relative on the choice of costing system, the adequacy of resources, on the use of costing system in decision making and cost management.

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