The variables of organizational commitment and job-related tension have been given much individual attention in studies of organizational behaviour, but little consideration has been given to the joint effect of both on budgetary behaviour. This paper reports a study of the effects of organizational commitment and job-related tension on the propensity of managers to create budgetary slack under conditions of high and low levels of budgetary participation. The results indicate that, in a situation of high budgetary participation, highly committed managers who report low job-related tension are associated with a reduced propensity to create budgetary slack, whereas lower committed managers with higher job-related tension are associated with a greater propensity to create slack. Additionally, the study finds that organizational commitment and job-related tension, in the low-participation situation, have no effect on propensity to create budgetary slack. The implications of the results for design of control systems and personnel management are considered.