The effect of locus of control in the relationship between budgetary participation and performance: An experimental study

More and more organizations involve their staff in budget processes under the premise that more participation will enhance the achievement of budgetary goals. However, budgetary participation does not always lead to improvements of an individual's performance, since the personality characteristics make individuals react differently to similar budgetary positions. In this study, the role of the locus of control in the relationship between participation and performance is analyzed, by means of an experiment involving 115 undergraduates. The results confirm that the locus of control is a personality trait that influences the effects of budgetary participation on the efficiency of individuals. Our results also show that an individual with external locus of control is less productive than an individual with internal locus of control in participatory environments, but they do not reach different results depending on the environment. In addition, our results show that only for low levels of locus of control (internal) increased participation results in higher performance. (C) 2016 ASEPUC. Published by Elsevier Espafia, S.L.U.