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

Abstract

The current study is a substantive replication and extension of Kren’s 1992 study.  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.  Since Kren conducted his study, the work environment has changed; budgetary participation has come to include all levels of employees.  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.  The results provide empirical support that the benefits of participation occur at lower levels within the organization as well as traditional upper management levels.