Management Research Review

Purpose – Whilst performance management (PM) is one human resource practice that is of importance for the company, research in international setting is still in its infancy. This paper focuses on global PM (GPM) in multinational enterprises. The aim is to present advances in the PM research framework, give managerial suggestions and find out future needs and trends for research.

Design/methodology/approach – The approach is to analyze the literature in the research field. Will the transfer of PM be localized or standardized? Diffusion deals with how social institutions are spread from one society to another through certain channels over time and among members of a social system. In this paper, the framework is drawn on institutional theory, the institutional impact of the degree of success or barriers to GPM.

Findings – In the findings of GPM research, the following perspectives were found: tool and process perspective, expatriates (a specific target group perspective), cultural perspective, standardization perspective and comparative perspective.

Practical implications – GPM enables the evaluation and development of the individual as well as organizational effectiveness for multinational companies. Balance between local responsiveness and global integration in subsidiaries is needed.

Originality/value – There is a need to study GPM further. The PM process is similar for domestic and international market, but the difference is in the implementation because it is far more complex in global companies with more issues to consider.