The quest for business value drivers: applying machine learning to performance management

The paper explores the potential role of Machine learning (ML) in supporting the development of a company’s Performance Management System (PMS). In more details, it investigates the capability of ML to moderate the complexity related to the identification of the business value drivers (methodological complexity) and the related measures (analytical complexity). A second objective is the analysis of the main issues arising in applying ML to performance management. The research, developed through an action research design, shows that ML can moderate complexity by (1) reducing the subjectivity in the identification of the business value drivers; (2) accounting for cause-effect relationships between business value drivers and performance; (3) balancing managerial interpretability vs. predictivity of the approach. It also shows that the realisation of such benefits requires a combined understanding of the ML techniques and of the performance management model of the company to frame and validate the algorithm in light of the context in which the organisation operates. The paper contributes to the literature analysing the role of business analytics in the field of performance management and it provides new insights into the potential benefits of introducing an ML-based PMS and the issues to consider to increase its effectiveness.