Impact of national culture on performance measurement systems in manufacturing firms

Abstract

With globalisation, the use of performance measurement systems (PMS) for managing international operations is increasing. The purpose of this research is to explore how differences in national culture impact on the design and use of PMS. Despite considerable literature investigating the impact of national culture on management practices in general, studies focussing on understanding the impact of national culture on PMS are scarce. This study adopts an analytical framework based on social and technical controls, PMS lifecycle and Hofstede’s six dimensions of national culture to explore the complex impact of national culture on PMS using 10 case studies from five culturally diverse regions. Findings clarify previously inconclusive research results by explaining how various dimensions of national culture influence the technical and social dimensions of PMS. They also highlight, for the first time, the significance of the masculinity dimension of national culture. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research.

Keywords:

• Performance measurement
• national culture
• organisational control
• management control
• masculinity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ihssan Jwijati

Ihssan Jwijati is a lecturer at the Syrian Virtual University (SVU) in Damascus, Syria. Previously, he has taught Business Strategy and Business Environment at the University of Strathclyde as an adjunct lecturer and Organisational Behaviour at the Arab International (AIU), Kalamoun and Yarmouk Private Universities in Syria. Prior to his academic career, he worked in retail, manufacturing and higher education sectors in the Middle East. He currently divides his time between being deputy general manager in Glass Industry and lecturing. Ihssan is interested in the behavioural and social impact of performance measurement particularly in national and organisational cultures.

Umit S. Bititci

Umit S. Bititci is the Professor of Business Performance and the Executive Dean of the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh. He has a blend of industrial and academic experience that spans across 35 years. He has dedicated his career to understanding performance and management practices of organisations and what makes high-performing companies different. He has worked with an international portfolio of companies and public sector organisations. He has led several  international research and development projects with a research portfolio c.£22m. He has published over 200 papers and he regularly appears at international conferences and workshops as guest speaker.

Nigel Caldwell

Nigel Caldwell is a Professor of Operations and Supply Management at London Metropolitan University, London, UK. Prior to joining London Met, Nigel worked as Director of the Logistics Research Centre at Heriot Watt University. Prior to that he worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Bath (CRiSPS/IDO), where he bid for and ran EPSRC funded projects. Nigel’s research focuses on business to business relationships, performance and social value. He was a co-founder of the British Academy of Management’s Special interest group in Inter-Organisational Relations, and a committee member of IPSERA, the International Purchasing and Supply Educational Research Association. He is an active member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. Nigel hosted EurOMA 2017, and is on the steering committee of the 6th World Conference on Production and Operations Management to be held in Nara, Japan in 2022. He has published widely in international journals such as, IJOPM, JMS, BJM and JOM.

Patrizia Garengo

Patrizia Garengo is Associate Professor of Business Performance at the University of Padua (Italy). Her research focussed on the development of scientifically grounded, but practical, performance measurement and management approaches to support improvement of organisational capability in organisations. Her research interests include performance management practices and performance measurement systems, with particular attention to manufacturing firms. To date she has published over 100 papers in international journals and conferences on performance measurement and management.

Wang Dan

Dan Wang, PhD, is an associate professor of Organisational Behaviour at the School of Management at Harbin Institute of Technology, China. Her research interests are in organisational theory and intercultural business collaboration. She has published papers in several peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences. She has won many awards, including the First Prize of the ‘Heilongjiang Provincial Textbook Construction Award’ for the text book she co-authored, Second prize of ‘Heilongjiang Provincial Social Science Outstanding Achievement Award’ and two prizes of the National ‘100 Excellent Management Case Award’. She is also the author of an MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) in Organisational Behaviour. She was a Committee member of IEEE Women in Engineering in 2009–2010, and Co-chair in China Steering Group of IEEE Technology Management Council in 2009–2010.