Organizational Control and Goal Conflicts in Headquarters-Subsidiary Relationships: An Agency Theory Perspective

In this study, we investigate the interaction of socialization, goal conflicts and behavioral control in headquarters-subsidiary relationships. We take a modern agency perspective and test assumptions of relationship multiplicity, within-subsidiary heterogeneity and multiple principals in an empirical model using 131 observations that cover the full configuration of a European insurance corporation. Our findings suggest that socialization reduces goal conflicts between central and local organizational units, contingent upon task programmability and influence of a second principal. Further, we qualify that goal conflicts mediate the relationships between socialization and behavioral controls only under certain circumstances. The primary contribution of this study is that it advances agency theory to more complex conceptualizations for applications in headquarters-subsidiary relationships.