Depends on the airline culture. While airline Captains tend to think of themselves as being 'in charge', this isn't always the case.

But when the chips go down, the Feds don't really care about culture...they care about effective action. In the end, the Captain should make the call. If he can't or won't, then he's just a FO flying from the left seat.

I always saw dispatch as folks whom I would advise of what I was going to do...and then let them tell me why that may or may not be a good idea. Time permitting, of course. Dispatch has more timely info available than we do in the cockpit, so I wouldn't want to leave them out of the loop...but the decision was mine to make.

Yes, I have made such decisions. No, I never heard from management about making them. TWA was a true Captain's airline.