The propensity of managers to create budgetary slack : a case study

Abstract

This study puts forward the proposition that the creation of budgetary slack is dysfunctional. As such, it should be curtailed. Accordingly, since religions in general, and Islam, in particular, all preach virtuous ethics, this study posits an influence of religion on the budgetary slack creation. The study aims to investigate the propensity of managers to create budgetary slack from two perspectives: organizational and behavioral. From the organizational perspective, it has been hypothesized that budgetary emphasis, budgetary participation and slack detection influence managers` intentions to create budgetary slack. From the behavioral perspective, it is posited that culture and religion influence the budgetary slack creation. Additionally, it is also posited that religiosity makes Muslims refrain from incorporating slack into the budgets. Data were gathered using a questionnaire survey from 63 departmental managers of the largest Korean-based company in Malaysia. The regression results indicated that budgetary participation positively influenced budgetary slack creation. The results also weakly supported that budgetary emphasis and slack detection determine the tendency of managers to create budgetary slack. There was no evidence found on the influence of national culture on budgetary slack creation from the survey. Nevertheless, the qualitative data gathered from personal interviews and other supporting materials revealed the importance of culture in explaining the propensity of managers to create budgetary slack. Interestingly, the findings suggested that religiosity, to some extent, influenced the budgetary behavior of Muslim managers. The same case was not found for the non-Muslims. Accordingly, this study has provided another insight into the argument that Muslims and non-Muslims are, indeed, different in their underlying values especially in the context of management accounting practices.