Finally, the results of this study must be interpreted in
light of its limitations. The paper’s low response rates and
method of company selection makes generalizing these
results to all North-American firms problematic. However,
some comfort can be taken in the fact that results were
remarkably consistent between the two samples, providing
a strong indication of their replicability. Nonetheless, a
common bias impacting both samples cannot be ruled out.
Also, the standard limitation that surveys can be affected
by unreliable responses or that the measures utilized may
not be a valid surrogate for the constructs of interest needs
to be acknowledged. However, the severity of this threat
is weakened in the present study because many of the
questions are low level constructs (e.g., how long does
budgeting take in your firm?). Further, we pre-tested the
surveys, performed numerous validity checks, obtained
reasonably consistent results across the two samples and
within samples, and respondents could not go back and
change their answers once a section was completed.