TY - JOUR AB - This paper reports findings on employee participation in decision making from a cross‐section of employees in the public, private and local government sectors in Western Australia. A contextual model of participation relevant to the prevailing industrial climate was developed, then tested using a structural equations modelling approach. Results suggest that participative decision making (PDM) directly contributed to task variety and autonomy, and through autonomy, task identity. Employees perceived that PDM contributed to performance effectiveness and led to greater gains in the workplace. An unexpected result was that these benefits did not contribute to increased job satisfaction or commitment despite PDM having a direct positive influence on job satisfaction, which in turn increases commitment. These findings support arguments that employees believe participation in decision making offers them substantial benefits, but suggests they are more ambivalent about increasing task demands and the gains they receive for this extra effort. VL - 25 IS - 8 SN - 0143-7739 DO - 10.1108/01437730410564988 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730410564988 AU - Scott‐Ladd Brenda AU - Marshall Verena PY - 2004 Y1 - 2004/01/01 TI - Participation in decision making: a matter of context? T2 - Leadership & Organization Development Journal PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 646 EP - 662 Y2 - 2024/04/26 ER -