Factors affecting the development of management control systems in Universities

The article investigates the diffusion of management control systems in Italian Universities, as a possible appli-cations of New Public Management principles, stressing the differences among universities and trying to discover the existence of a relation between the universities features and the development of the control structure and tools. The results highlight a medium-quality control structure and a general limited adoption of management tools, and suggest further investigations on the real determinants of the successful implementation and development of management control systems in universities, considering, for instance, the impact of cultural and human factors.