Effects of psychological capital and managerial attitudes on the relationship between budgetary participation and performance

Abstract

This study analyzes the effects of psychological capital and managerial attitudes on the relationship between budgetary participation and management performance in budgeting activities. The study addresses a gap that exists in the budgeting research, tackling the effects of individuals’ mental states and behaviors on the relationship between budgetary participation and management performance in an integrated way. The interactive effects of cognitive and personal, behavioral, and environmental factors enable us to understand the factors present within the budgetary context that influence the relationship between budgetary participation and management performance, which provides an explanation for the conflicting results found in the literature, denoting in which conditions the effects of participation on performance can be obtained. The research innovates by evaluating, based on an interactionist approach, predictive factors for management performance within the budgetary context, contemplating the analysis of cognitive and personal (psychological capital), behavioral (managerial attitudes), and environmental (budgetary participation) factors, providing an explanation for the effects of budgetary participation on management performance in budgeting activities. A survey was conducted with 245 controller professionals from industries in the South Region of Brazil, chosen using the LinkedIn social network, and the data were analyzed via structural equation modeling (SEM). This revealed the positive joint indirect effects of psychological capital and of managerial attitudes on the relationship between budgetary participation and performance. The results converge with the social cognitive theory (SCT) approach, as it can be inferred that cognitive and personal aspects influence human decisions and the level of effort employed by managers in activities carried out within the budgetary context. The results offer support for organizations to direct resources toward organizational practices that seek to improve managers’ positive mental states, which influence behavioral factors and their job performance.