Understanding the importance of the management control for the economic performance in familiar agriculture

Abstract

The literature on managerial control applied in the agricultural sector shows that different factors precede the form of managerial control used, one of which is government actions directed at the field. In Brazil, agribusiness is strongly
influenced by government policies. However, the international literature does not show consensus on the results of the impact of government aid on the adoption of managerial control in agricultural organizations, with several authors identifying positive impacts and other researchers identifying negative impacts of the aforementioned factor. Thus, when verifying that the relationship between management control practices and receipt of government aid, in the form of incentives, has not been investigated in the Brazilian agricultural context and that the little empirical evidence of this relationship, found in several countries, is conflicting, the present work seeks to fill this gap. Through a descriptive, quantitative study and conducted based on a survey with 204 family farmers settled in the Center-West of Brazil, the study measures, through structural equation modeling, the interrelations between the receipt of incentives, the adoption of management control practices and the performance of undertakings linked to family farming. The results show that in Brazil the relationship between government assistance and the adoption of management control practices is positive. It is concluded, therefore, that the expansion of incentives destined for the field has a positive impact on the increase in the performance of these producers.