Impact of Environment on Performance Measurement Design and Processing in Retailing

Purpose – By focusing on the interface between information dissemination and interpretation at the retail sales floor, the purpose of this paper is to open up new practice theory contribution on management control and performance measurement used in complex environments. Design/methodology/approach – Problem-centered qualitative interviews in two different contexts (USA and Europe) build the methodological approach. In total, 22 interviewees were selected from various retail sectors and hierarchy levels with the focus on store management. Following content analysis procedures, data were coded according to contingency theoretical underpinnings. Findings – Environment shapes corporate processes as well as retail management in multiple ways. By studying fast fashion industries, the authors found similarities in retail management in all researched settings. First, the authors present relevant operational performance metrics in the retailing context. Second, the authors see that store managers aim to optimize processes and generate efficient and effective practices to maximize store performance. Third, information and task overload are reasons for neglecting performance information. As a consequence, managers call for decision-facilitating tools, e.g. dashboards, to reduce information complexity. Originality/value – Widely accepted in contingency literature, environmental aspects influence business activities and performance outcomes. However, evaluating research studies that deal with performance measurement in retailing contexts reveals contradicting results. With the focus on larger retail companies with multibranch and department structures in two different national contexts the authors can unravel different perspectives on environment in operational retail settings for the first time.