Title: Performance measures and learning

Authors: Jennifer Kunz

Addresses: Department of Accounting, Goethe University, Gruneburgplatz 1, RuW-Gebaude, Frankfurt/Main, D-60323, Germany

Abstract: New developments in performance measurement, like the balanced scorecard or value-based performance measures, tend to improve decisions by increasing the reflection of organisation goals in these new measures. However, they are also placing greater demands on decision makers| cognitive abilities in terms of perception and interpretation. This paper picks up the question of how these developments might influence the possibilities to learn and thereby the quality of long-term decisions. As the research object – learning of cognitively restricted individuals using performance measures – exhibits a high degree of complexity and still is quite unexamined, the paper adopts an explorative approach and bases its analysis on a computer simulation. Taking into consideration the usual restrictions on the generalisability of results obtained from simulation experiments, the findings nevertheless indicate that although new trends in performance measurement aim at the improvement of decision quality and learning through measures that reflect goals better, they can actually inhibit decision makers| learning or send their learning into the wrong direction.

Keywords: performance measurement; goal reflection; experienced-based learning; simulation-based research; cognitive abilities; simulation; decision quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAMS.2011.037706

International Journal of Applied Management Science, 2011 Vol.3 No.1, pp.1 - 29

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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