Motivation and causal inferences in the budgetary control

This paper reports the result of an empirical study designed to examine the relationship between the manager's perceptions of the sources of budget variances and his motivation. A questionnaire survey drew the responses from sixty-eight middle managers sampled from nine manufacturing companies in Japan. The questionnaire mailed to them included a list of possible causes underlying their budgetary performance, the items to measure variables that constitute the expectancy model of motivation, and other variables related to budgeting. Five factors were drawn by the factor analysis of perceived causes of budget variances. And the analysis of the relationship between those factors and motivation revealed that three of those factors influenced it significantly; (a) internal factor, that was composed of the sources existing in his own side, (b) the budget validity factor, that referred to the extent which a manager perceived his budgetary performance properly reflects his efforts, and (c) chance factor, that was composed of economic condition and luck. The internal factor related to the external and internal valences as well as expectancy variables of the motivation model, the budget validity only to the expectancy, and the chance factor had an effect on motivation through the social valence. In addition, the effects of the task uncertainty and a few other variables on the causal factors of variances were examined. This would provide the means for encouraging budgetary motivation.