The Evil of Budget-Spending Imbalance to Organizational Commitment

• In Event: The Diversity of Public Administration

Abstract

Extant research has seldom discussed the fiscal factors shaping employee commitment to public organizations. How does the difference between budget and spending, either positive or negative, affect public employee’s organizational commitment? How to mitigate the negative impacts of budget-spending imbalances? Using different organizational and budgeting theories, this paper attempts to holistically explore the impacts of budget-spending imbalance on employee’s commitment to public organizations. We proposed an inverted U-shaped relationship between budget-spending imbalance and organizational commitment. We argued that budget-spending imbalance indicate both the executive agency’s power influencing the budgeting process and capability of resource management as perceived by its employees. Thus, both positive and negative budget-spending imbalance can create the funding elasticity that increase employee’s organizational commitment, while too much budget-spending imbalance will eventually reduce their organizational commitment. And different budget-spending imbalance may have different impacts on different types of employees’ organizational commitment. We constructed model based on data from FEVS and federal agency budgets and outlays to test the relevant hypotheses in the context of the U.S. federal government. This study advances both inquiries on budget-spending imbalance and organizational commitment in public organizations by taking a closer look at the role of budget management in managing public personnel.

Author

• Fangda Ding, The University of Hong Kong