The impact of culture on the use of performance measurement information in the university setting

The paper examines the performance measurement (PM) of knowledge organizations as problems of search (design mode) and application (use mode). The argumentation of the paper focuses on university organizations as a case of illustration in examining limitations in PM systems, culturally shaped assumptions for designing and using PM systems and unintended consequences of using performance measurement information. The paper presents a conceptual model created to demonstrate the relationship between the cultural features of a knowledge‐intensive organizational context, the ambiguities in the objectives of PM systems and the behavioral consequences of performance measurement. It is argued that PM systems in universities are seen as structures of attention rather than formal systems of accountability. Consequently, given the cultural background, universities tend to diminish the significance of PM systems by practising game rationalities and politics of representation.