An empirical investigation of the effects of budgetary participation, locus of control, and their interactions on the evaluation of performance

Abstract

This dissertation investigated the impact of the personality of a supervisor on the relationship between participation and performance. The following research questions were addressed in this study: (1) Is a supervisor's expectation of subordinate performance prior to interacting with the subordinate dependent on the supervisor's locus of control (a personality variable)? (2) Is the amount of influence which the subordinate's estimate of his/her own performance has on the supervisor's budget for the subordinate's performance dependent upon the supervisor's locus of control? (3) Is a supervisor's rating of subordinate performance dependent on the supervisor's locus of control? Previous studies have examined the relationship between participation and performance from the perspective of the subordinate. The present study was an initial examination of the effects of leader or supervisor characteristics (e.g. locus of control) on the relationship between participation and performance. The variables measured in this study related to the supervisor and included the supervisor's rating of subordinate performance, the supervisor's locus of control, and the amount of influence which the subordinate's estimate of his/her own performance had on the supervisor's budget for the subordinate's performance. A laboratory experiment with students as subjects was used to address the research questions in this study. The results of this experiment indicated that supervisor locus of control did affect the amount of influence which the subordinate's estimate of his/her own performance had on the supervisor's budget for the subordinate's performance although it did not affect the supervisor's rating of subordinate performance or the supervisor's expectation of subordinate performance prior to interacting with the subordinate. This study also developed an integrated model of the participative budgeting process, one which considers the supervisor's perspective as well as that of the subordinate. Limitations of this study were discussed as well as directions for future research dealing with the participative budgeting process.