Task uncertainty and its interaction with budgetary participation and budget emphasis: Some methodological issues and empirical investigation

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study which re-examines Brownell & Hirst (Journal of Accounting Research, Autumn 1986). In that study, it was hypothesized that Brownell's result (Journal of Accounting Research, Spring 1982), showing that budget participation and budget emphasis in evaluation should be aligned, would hold only where task uncertainty was low. With managerial performance as the criterion, Brownell & Hirst were unable to find support for the hypothesis. This study incorporates variations in measurement and sampling and finds results which provide strong support for Brownell & Hirst's hypothesis.