Subjective Performance Measurement: A Literature Review

This article provides an overview of academic research on subjective performance measurement, a practice that intends to remedy the weaknesses of evaluations solely based on objective quantitative performance measures. The literature on subjective performance measurement mainly focuses on four research streams: optimal contracting, discretionary bonus pools, judgment biases and debiasing, and perceived fairness. We discuss these four research streams as encountered in 67 articles published in 20 high-impact journals over the period 1977 to 2013. In addition, this article identifies several research gaps and avenues for future research.status: publishe