The relationship between national culture dimensions, level of participation budgeting and firm performance : a study on Libyan small and medium size firms

Abstract EN

In this paper we investigate the relationship between national culture dimensions, level of participation budgeting and firm performance in the context of Libya, following the changes in economic policy in Libya, the study focuses on a sample of managers of small and medium-sized manufacturing firms; therefore the findings cannot be generalised to other sectors.

A survey questionnaire was employed to collect the data for this study, the population of this study is defined as all managers in medium small and manufacturing privatized companies in Libya, a total of 186 questionnaires were returned, making a response rate of 83.7%.

Of these 186 respondents, for data analysis SEM was used to analyze the data by AMOS 18.

Our results suggests that national culture dimensions within Libyan manufacturing companies found to be high power distance, high masculinity, slightly high in uncertainty avoidance and collectivism element.

The level of participation in budgeting is low.

That is meaning there is a relationship between national culture and level of participation in budgeting and the firm performance.

The paper is one of the few studies attempting to assess the effects of culture on the level of participation budgeting in the transitional economy countries