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This study seeks to contribute to inter‐organisational management control literature by examining the impact of the use of management controls on fairness and performance. Findings from a survey of 232 Australian inter‐organisational relationships reveal that the use of social controls could improve procedural, distributive and interactional fairness. In turn, distributive and interactional fairness could lead to high levels of perceived relational performance. Additional analyses also confirm that formal and social controls are used as complements in managing inter‐organisational relationships.

This study aims to explore the effects of: (1) the project characteristics of asset specificity, uncertainty and complexity on the performance of, and, the use of formal and social controls in inter-firm innovation projects, and, (2) the use of formal and social controls on the performance of inter-firm innovation projects. In addition, the mediating role of the use of formal and social controls in the relationships between the characteristics and performance of inter-firm innovation projects is also examined. Survey data from 75 organisations in innovation-active industries in Australia were analysed using the structural equation modelling with the Partial Least Square technique. The results show that uncertainty and complexity affected performance of inter-firm innovation projects, but in opposite directions. Higher levels of uncertainty were associated with less use of social controls but higher levels of complexity were partnered with a greater use of both formal and social controls. The use of formal and social controls individually impacted on inter-firm innovation project performance. Finally, the use of formal and social controls played a partial mediating role in the relationships of uncertainty and complexity with inter-firm innovation performance. Responding to gaps in research, this study clarifies that asset specificity may be irrelevant whilst uncertainty and complexity may be highly relevant in the performance of, and, the use of controls in inter-firm innovation projects. The study offers valuable insights into how a complementary use of controls contributes to the performance of inter-firm innovation projects.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore how the lack of staff engagement with a university's strategy on sustainability could be an enabling lever for organisational change. It examines the attitudes and views of employees of a business faculty at an Australian metropolitan university as it attempts to adopt a holistic approach to sustainability. Design/methodology/approach - The paper opted for a case study using data from an on-line survey, semi-directed interviews with key management personnel and archival material. Responses were analysed using Piderit's (2000) notion of ambivalence. Findings - The paper provides empirical insights into why staff lacked engagement with the university's strategy on sustainability. It suggests that staff were ambivalent, displaying dissonance in their personal beliefs on sustainability, the university's strategy and the extent of their intentions to support the university. Staff were willing to offer ideas on how the university could, in the future, change towards sustainability. These ideas allow the possibility for the university to learn to adjust the scope of the implementation of its sustainability strategy. Research limitations/implications - The research results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to further examine staff attitudes on sustainability in higher education using Piderit's notion of ambivalence. In-depth interviews and focus group discussions could allow a better understanding of harmony and dissonance in cognition of and intention for university sustainability strategies and initiatives by academic, professional and sessional staff. Practical implications - The paper includes implications for staff engagement with sustainability in higher education. Originality/value - This paper fulfils an identified need to study how staff engagement with sustainability in higher education can be enabled for organisational learning.

The last two decades witnessed a surge of research into sustainability, in particular, corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting1. The foci were on the motivations, characteristics, formats and contents of sustainability reporting (Ullmann 1985, Gray et al. 1995a, Deegan et al. 2000, 2002). There has been less research that examines sustainability issues and consequent changes from inside an organization (Adams & McNicholas, 2007), especially a not-for-profit (NFP) entity. This study addresses the implementation of a sustainability policy in a large university in an Australian capital city, identifying the challenges and barriers to that university in the implementation of its sustainability strategy.