Developing Synergies Between E-Collaboration and Participant Budgeting Research

E-collaboration, through group support systems (GSS) and other forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC), is increasingly used in organizations. GSS and CMC technologies offer organizations new ways to communicate information and knowledge, to interact synchronously or asynchronously, and to generate ideas, make decisions and solve problems. Although a sizable body of literature has developed that examines behavior in face-to-face (FtF) settings compared to CMC settings, one area that is relatively unexplored in the e-collaboration literature is participative budgeting, a widely used aspect of management control systems. Budgeting is a topic of continuing interest to managers and scholars because of its important role in coordinating activities, allocating resources, motivating employees, and communicating goals and constraints in organizations. Participation by subordinates has long been considered an important aspect of the budgeting process. Participation has been assumed to lead to improved attitudes, communication, motivation, performance, and satisfaction (Shields & Shields, 1998). Participative budgeting has also been assumed to take place in face-to-face meetings between supervisors and subordinates. Recently, however, budgeting software (a form of group support system) has been deployed in many companies and computer-mediated communication within virtual planning teams has begun to replace face-to-face meetings between superiors and subordinates (Smith, Goranson, & Astley, 2003). E-collaboration technologies have the potential to significantly impact many aspects of the budgeting process and the outcomes of that process. Because results of GSS and CMC research have shown that the effects of e-collaboration are dependent on multiple factors, the impacts on participative budgeting need to be investigated. In addition, participative budgeting provides a new environment in which to study the role of e-collaboration technologies. Participative budgeting differs from many of the tasks examined in the GSS and CMC literature because, like participation in the systems development process (Hartwick & Barki, 1994), participation has a dual role (contributing to the development process and using the system after it is developed). It involves both the contribution to the budgeting process (e.g., information sharing) and the future effects of that participation (e.g., job satisfaction, motivation to achieve budget goals, and actual performance). In the GSS and CMC literature, the purpose of the collaboration is to accomplish the immediate task at hand. Even though research in e-collaboration and participative budgeting have drawn from different theoretical backgrounds and have very different perspectives, the primary aim of both is to enhance group interactions, communication, and decision making. The purpose of this article is to identify potential synergies through which scholars in both areas can enhance future research.