Managerial accountability enactment: a path for future research

The last four decades of accountability research have dramatically advanced our knowledge and understanding of how accountability pressures and dynamics influence human behavior and cognition in the workplace – at least for those being held accountable. A major piece of the accountability puzzle is still missing. In order to understand the totality of workplace accountability, researchers need to begin exploring the methods and motivations of the leaders and managers who hold people accountable in organizations. In this chapter, we advance accountability research by beginning to discuss the possible reasons why and various ways how leaders choose to enact accountability. We explore possible explanations for leaders’ purpose, intent, and rationale for enacting accountability, as well as what costs and benefits they perceive and receive by enacting it. We propose a new research stream focused on managerial accountability that will parallel and complement the existing stream of employee-focused accountability research.