The Effect of Program Commitment on the Degree of Participative Congruence and Managerial Performance in a Budgeting Setting

The purpose of this research endeavor is to investigate the effect that the degree of participative congruence has on the relationship between program commitment and managerial performance. The degree of participative congruence (Clinton and Hunton 2001) is a new measure of participation designed to determine the amount of congruence between the perceived need for participation and the degree of participation allowed. This study used a questionnaire to evaluate the antecedents of and effects of the degree of participative congruence (DPC) in a budgeting setting. In order to investigate these effects, the questionnaire was mailed to a sample of 1,500 AICPA members. The results of the SEM offer some support of the proposed model; however, the results provided stronger evidence in support of an alternative model. Program commitment has a significant relationship with DPC, but there is no significant relationship between DPC and managerial performance. Evidence suggests that DPC has a positive effect on performance through the positive effect that DPC has on program commitment.