TY - JOUR AB - Purpose This paper aims to contribute to the core research in international business (IB), namely, the relationship between multinationality and performance and is concerned with the quality of past empirical research designs.Design/methodology/approach On the basis of 49 studies, given in a literature review, the match between performance measures used in empirical studies and the underlying theoretical streams that explain the effects on benefits and costs of multinationality is critically evaluated.Findings Findings indicate that authors still largely rely on overall financial performance measures. Theoretical arguments, in contrast, refer to specific benefit and cost positions that might be better reflected in operational performance indicators. The idiosyncratic choice of the performance measures used might contribute to the varying results in past studies.Originality/value Suggestions for improving future research designs are offered. VL - 13 IS - 2 SN - 1742-2043 DO - 10.1108/cpoib-06-2013-0015 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib-06-2013-0015 AU - Richter Nicole Franziska AU - Schmidt Robert AU - Ladwig Tina Jessica AU - Wulhorst Fabian PY - 2017 Y1 - 2017/01/01 TI - A critical perspective on the measurement of performance in the empirical multinationality and performance literature T2 - critical perspectives on international business PB - Emerald Publishing Limited SP - 94 EP - 118 Y2 - 2024/03/28 ER -