Measures of strategic alliance performance, classified and assessed

• We review the strategic alliance performance measures used in 167 empirical studies.
• We offer a classificatory scheme of similarities and differences between measures.
• We assess construct validity of the different measures.
• We provide empirical tests of the importance of differences in performance measures.

Over the last three decades, strategic alliance performance has been an important research topic within the international business and management fields. Researchers have investigated a number of factors explaining performance but often find diverging results. Scholars have suggested that one reason may be that different performance measures are used as the dependent variable. But which differences exist and how can they matter? Against this backdrop, the present study makes three main contributions. First, we identify dimensions that illustrate differences and similarities between performance measures and provide a simple yet comprehensive classification of the different performance measures used in 167 empirical studies in the literature. Second, we suggest how differences in performance measures may influence construct validity under different circumstances. Third, we show that the differences have empirical implications for the results researchers get when using the measures. The study implications serve to improve researchers’ ability to choose performance measures that are appropriate in a given situation and to help them assess the influence the choice of performance measure may have on tests of hypotheses regarding antecedents’ influence on performance.