Workplace Fairness, Information Sharing and Employee Performance in a Budget Setting: An Empirical Study

Suria  Zainuddin; Che Ruhana Isa

Suria Zainuddin University of Malaya
Che Ruhana Isa University of Malaya

Keywords: Workplace fairness, Distributive fairness, Procedural fairness, Information sharing, Budget participation, Performance

Abstract

The importance that workplace fairness and information sharing has on employees’ performance has gained a significant attention from researchers and practitioners. However, no empirical evidence on the combined role of both workplace fairness and information sharing on employee performance has been found so far. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the effects of workplace fairness and information sharing on employees’ performance in a budget setting. A set of direct and indirect hypotheses are tested using survey data collected from 108 sub-unit managers from various industries, randomly selected from Bursa Malaysia (the stock exchange of Malaysia). The findings indicate that both workplace fairness and information sharing are positively associated with improved employee performance in a participative budget setting. Furthermore, information sharing mediates the relationship between workplace fairness and employee performance. This suggests that when employees perceive the budgeting process as being fair, they would be more willing to share information, which will then lead to improved employee performance.

Author Biographies

Suria Zainuddin, University of Malaya

She is a Management Accounting and Taxation Lecturer at the Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya. She completed her Ph.D., and Undergraduate Studies in Accounting at University of Malaya, and obtained her Master in Accounting from Universiti Teknologi Mara, Malaysia. Her research interests are in the area of taxation and management accounting and control systems.

Author’s contact detail: Department of Accountancy, Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA; phone: +603 79673835; e-mail: suriaz@um.edu.my.

Che Ruhana Isa, University of Malaya

She is currently the Dean and Professor in Accounting at the Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya (UM). She joined UM as a tutor in 1987 after obtaining BBA in Accounting from Oklahoma State University, USA. She obtained her Ph.D. (2005) in Accounting from University Putra Malaysia; and earned M.Sc. (1990), in Accounting and Finance, from London School of Economics and Political Science. Her current research interests are management accounting change, management accounting and performance measurement systems in public sector organizations.

Author’s contact detail: Department of Accountancy, Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA; phone: +603 79673971.

References

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