Development of a multi-dynamic learning simulation concept: Toward experiential learning in management control education

In recent times, major changes in the business environment, such as globalization, technological advances and sociocultural as well as ecological issues have challenged businesses and reinforced the necessity of management control activities. This transformation of the management control profession has also had a major influence on academic management control education, which is responsible for providing students with state-of-the-art knowledge of management control principles and instruments. Due to the deficiencies of traditional passive classroom lectures as well as the static nature of popular experience-driven learning methods (e.g. case studies), these often fail to address the dynamicity and complexity of real-world challenges in management control. Furthermore, the development of personal skills such as metacognitive abilities, andragogy and social competences is neglected. Because of the absence of academic contributions addressing the design and application of more dynamic learning methods (i.e. learning simulations) in the domain of management control, we here provide a first evaluation of the suitability of such methods, considering functional as well as personal requirements in the management control profession. The findings reveal that in general, dynamic learning simulations are able to enhance traditional management control education and show a high level of compliance with the aspects of experiential learning, management control principles, administrational efficiency and reduction of cheating activities. Minor shortcomings are outweighed by the various benefits, which reach far beyond classroom boundaries – for students as well as other stakeholders. Based on these insights, using design science research methodology, a conceptual framework for the development of computer technology-based learning simulations is introduced, which uses special simulation mechanics to facilitate the implementation of management control principles.