The mediating effect of management control systems on human capital and sustainable performance among Ugandan power companies

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample size determination.

Power company ‘Strata’s’	Population (N)	Sample (n)
1. Electricity generation (hydro-electricity, thermal electricity, bagasse-cogeneration, grid-connected solar, biomass)	54	39
2. Electricity transmission (UETCL)	1	1
3. Electricity distribution (utility companies)	9	6
4. Off-grid solar companies)	92	66
Total	156	112
A minimum of two (2) respondents (112*2)		224

Source: (ERA electricity supply industry performance report, 2020; REA, 2022).

Table 2. Summary of measures and variables.

Sustainable performance (SP)-Dependent variable:	SP is the ability to generate electricity in an environmentally, socially responsible, and economically viable way. SP contains 16 items based 3 main themes, including: 9 items on Environmental Performance (ENV); 4 items on Economic Performance (ECON); 3 Social performance (SOP) items. All 16 items a five-point Likert
Human capital – independent variable	Human capital refers to the competences, knowledge, expertise that individuals possess, which can be leveraged to contribute to their productivity and the overall success of an organization. For competences: Workers have specific technical skills; PCs have experienced workers are highly rewarded; We train our employees regularly. Knowledge is composed of PCs ability to employs qualified workers; and Rewarding creative workers; Expertise considers the ability of the employees to apply expertise to solve complex problems; PC’s ability to recruit and retain employees who collaborate with professionals from different fields; and having workers with the necessary expertise required for their positions.
MCS-mediator variable	MCSs are procedures and processes that are used by a company to monitor and control their operations and achieve their goals. MCS include management information system (MIS); cost accounting implementation; cost control; strategic planning; internal audit and quality control implementation containing 13 items.

Figure 1. Path diagram for human capital, MCSs and SP.

Table 3. Mediating role of MCS on the relationship between human capital and sustainable performance.

Direct paths	Hypothesis	Path coefficients (β)	T statistics	p Values
Human capital ->MCS		0.089	6.481	0.00
Human capital ->SP	H1	0.113	1.662	0.10
MCS ->SP	H2	0.124	4.736	0.00
Indirect effect
Human capital ->MCS ->SP	H3	0.105	3.215	0.001
R^2 = 0.410; Adjusted R^2 = 0.398

Source: Primary data.

Table

Authors	Contribution (s)
Brendah Akankunda	Considerable contributions to the conception or design of the work; writing the manuscript, analysis, and interpretation of data for themanuscript.
Twaha Kaawaase Kigongo	Reviewing the work critically for important intellectual content
Stephen K. Nkundabanyanga	Final approval of the version to be published
Muyiwa S Adaramola	Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved
Gideon Nkurunziza	Guidance for the design of the study, instrument, and data analysis.
Sulait Tumwine	Reviewing the work critically for important intellectual content

Data availability statement

The Authors agree to make data and materials supporting the results or analyses presented in their paper available upon reasonable request.