Management control in the era of Artificial Intelligence: The case of agri-food SMEs in Morocco

Abstract

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) is profoundly disrupting the business world and in particular the finance and management control professions, in fact, the classic tools and roles of MC are being transformed. Our contribution explores the perception of management supervisors in the face of these mutations and analyzes the factors that influence their acceptance or resistance to the adoption of AI in their daily work. This empirical research is based on a quantitative study conducted with 312 management controllers and financial managers from the agri-food industry sector by adopting the UTAUT3 model and the theory of perceived risk, following a post-positivist posture. The results show that the main determinants of the intention to use AI are habit, personal innovation in information technology, social influence, hedonic motivation, and perceived value. As for the intention to adopt, it is mainly influenced by the psychological and privacy dimensions of perceived risk, as well as by personal innovation in information technology.