Management Accounting Research 15 (2004) 383–399 Adoption of activity management practices: a note on the extent of adoption and the influence of organizational and cultural factors Kevin M. Baird ∗ , Graeme L. Harrison, Robert C. Reeve DivisionofEconomicandFinancialStudies,MacquarieUniversity,Sydney,NSW2109,Australia Received 1 November 2003; accepted 12 July 2004 Abstract We examine the extent to which activity management practices are adopted by Australian business units at each of Gosselin’s [Gosselin, M., 1997. The effect of strategy and organizational structure on the adoption and implementation of activity-based costing. Acc. Organ. Society 22 (2), 105–122] levels of Activity Analysis, Activity Cost Analysis and Activity-based Costing. We also examine the association between extent of adoption and the organizational factors of size and decision usefulness of cost information, and the business unit culture dimensions of innovation, outcome orientation, and tight versus loose control. Data were collected by mail survey questionnaire of a random sample of business units, with questionnaire design and distribution based on Dillman’s [Dillman, D.A., 2000. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York] Tailored Design Method. Adoption rates are found to be higher than in prior studies, suggesting the continuing relevance of activity management practices and the advantage of using Gosselin’s (1997) levels. All factors were found to be associated with all activity management practices. In particular, business unit size and all three business unit culture dimensions were found to be associated with extent of adoption of Activity Analysis (AA) and Activity Cost Analysis (ACA), while decision usefulness and the cultural dimensions of outcome orientation and tight versus loose control were associated with Activity-based Costing. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Activity management; Activity Analysis; Activity Cost Analysis; Activity-based Costing; Business unit culture; Organizational culture ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +61 2 9850 8532; fax: +61 2 9850 8497. E-mailaddress: kbaird@efs.mq.edu.au (K.M. Baird). 1044-5005/$ – see front matter © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.mar.2004.07.002