This paper explores how the notions of shareholder orientation (SHO) shapes management control practices in an Italian family firm over an eighteen-year period. Drawing on the social movement literature and adopting a longitudinal field case study, the paper examines how the influence of the SHO on managerial practices takes the form of a protracted framing process where an emerging SHO-focused frame interacted with the extant frame embedded by socio-emotional wealth (SEW) objectives of the family business. Particular attention is paid to how this interplay fosters varying degree of frame alignment, denoting the extent to which share-holder-focused frame is often transformed into a more context-specific frame. This study highlights how the shareholder-focused frame challenged extant control practice and how it is also complemented by extant frame to enable organizational action. This perspective of analy-sis attempts to add to the literature dealing with reasons behind the customization of manage-ment control practices and permits to shed light on the process underlying the diffusion of practice grounded on the idea of shareholder wealth maximization.
Key-Words: Performance Measurement and Management, field study, management control practices, shareholder orientation (SHO), socio-emotional wealth (SWE).
