No abstract

This study explores the causes or antecedents of budget participation to understand more fully the role of participation in the workplace. The study focuses on the reasons why superiors encourage the budget participation of their subordinates and draws upon several theoretical perspectives including leadership theory, agency theory and organizational justice. To examine the issues, a survey was administered to managers and supervisors in several companies. Results of path analysis suggest that superiors encourage subordinate participation when the superior's leadership style is considerate. This implies that budget participation may mediate the relation between leadership style and work outcomes. Results also suggest that superiors encourage participation when budget goals are used in the performance evaluation of subordinates, in which case, the study argues, the superiors encourage participation because of concerns about organizational justice. This finding implies that budget participation may mediate the relation between the evaluative use of budget and those work outcomes that prior research has linked to organizational justice. The proposed relation between information asymmetry and budget participation is not supported.

No abstract

Oligopolistic markets typically revert to some form of non‐price competition in order to differentiate their goods and services. Customer services that are associated with tangible product offerings present an opportunity for firms attempting to differentiate themselves. This article presents findings that suggest the stated preferences for customer services in selected customer markets is heterogeneous, thereby enabling providers of services to differentiate themselves according to the needs of existing market segments.