Effects of Budgetary Goal Characteristics on Managerial Attitudes and Performance.

Abstract ABSTRACT: This study examines some effects of budgetary goal characteristics of participation, clarity, feedback, evaluation, and difficulty on job-related attitudes (job satisfaction, job involvement, job tension), budget-related attitudes (attitude towards budgets, budgetary motivation), and self-rated performance (budgetary performance, cost efficiency, job performance) for 169 department managers at the plant level who have budget responsibility. The results show that budgetary participation and budget goal clarity tend to have positive and significant effects on job-related and budget-related attitudes of managers. Participation and goal clarity, furthermore, were found to have significant influence on budgetary performance of managers. High level of budget goal difficulty was found to have an adverse effect on attitudes and performance of managers. Effects of budgetary evaluation and feedback on attitudes and performance of managers, on the other hand, were found to be weak or insignificant.