A Re-Examination Of The Effect Of Job-Relevant Information On The Budgetary Participation - Job Performance Relation During An Age Of Employee Empowerment

Abstract

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 38.7pt 0pt 0.5in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">The current study is a substantive replication and extension of Kren’s 1992 study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Using survey data from 80 executive-level, profit center managers, Kren found that budgetary participation facilitates the acquisition of job-relevant information which, in turn, is associated with improved performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Since Kren conducted his study, the work environment has changed; budgetary participation has come to include all levels of employees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Using self-reported data from 256 employees from Chief Financial Officer to Accounts Payable Clerk, we find that participation in the budgetary process is associated with positive increases in self-reported measures of job-relevant information and self-efficacy (task-specific self-confidence) which, in turn, are associated with positive increases in individual job performance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The results provide empirical support that the benefits of participation occur at lower levels within the organization as well as traditional upper management levels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span></span></span></span></p>