Evaluating organizational performance continues to be a key management activity. Performance indicators take center stage as tools that provide information for decision-making. This study investigates, from the perspective of organizational performance evaluation, the characteristics of performance indicators used in research in the fields of Management, Accounting and Tourism, from 2000 to 2008. The authors opted for a descriptive study with a qualitative and quantitative approach, and they identified 2,646 articles containing the following words in their title, abstract or keywords: evaluation, performance, decision, measurement, performance evaluation and assessment. Of these, the authors selected the articles that had the words indicator, criterion, attribute, and measure, resulting in 85 articles, the contents of which were analyzed. The authors found that 61.14% of these articles contained the words performance indicator (ID), whereas 73% did not include this concept. The indicators used, in general, had an economic and financial focus and were quantitative, being measured in ordinal terms. In general, the organizational performance indicators achieved their goal of aiding the decision making process, given that 76% of the articles studied researched the benefits of using these indicators.
organizational performance evaluation; performance indicators; performance measures; scientific production; bibliometric study
