ABSTRACTRonen and Livingstone [42] have proposed that expectancy theory can provide a unifying framework for accounting research aimed at the motivational impact of budgets on managers. Unfortunately, researchers attempting to use this approach have employed an inappropriate across‐persons methodology. This paper uses the decision modeling approach we recently developed [48]to provide a within‐persons examination of Vroom's force model in a budget setting. An examination of two hypotheses questions the belief expressed in the budget literature to the effect that the use of currently attainable cost standards results in a cost budget with unique motivating characteristics. Strengths of this research are the use of the within‐persons approach and the use of an innovative measure of motivational