A Conceptual Framework for Budgetary Participation and Innovation Performance: Mediating Mechanisms from a Social Cognitive Perspective

Abstract

Innovation performance has emerged as a key driver of organizational competitiveness in a dynamic and uncertain environment. Although previous research has extensively examined budget participation as a control mechanism, attention to the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms underlying its effects on innovation performance remains relatively limited. Based on Social Cognitive Theory, this study develops a conceptual framework that explains how budgetary participation affects innovation performance through a series of mediation mechanisms rooted in individual cognition and behavior. The framework integrates key personal antecedents, such as self-efficacy and locus of control, with environmental antecedents, including task uncertainty and information technology for enhanced communication, to explain their impact on participatory budgeting practices and subsequent innovation outcomes. By emphasizing the reciprocal interactions among personal factors, environmental conditions, and behavioral processes, this article enriches the literature by repositioning budgetary participation as a socially embedded and cognitively driven process rather than merely a procedural practice. The proposed conceptual framework makes a theoretical contribution to management accounting research and innovation and serves as a foundation for future empirical research examining budgeting systems that drive innovation.