Export Performance Measurement: An Evaluation of the Empirical Research in the Literature

DISCUSSION AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Over the past decades, considerable attention has been paid to the export performance of the firm. The present review, however, reveals that research on the measurement of export performance still remains underdeveloped, since no consensus exists about its conceptual and operational definitions. Although compared to earlier studies (e.g. Madsen 1987; Aaby and Slater 1989; Zou and Stan 1998), some progress has been made in developing theory and knowledge of the measures of export performance, there is still a long way to go before it is possible to clearly delineate the domain of this construct and identify its dimensions. Indeed, the export marketing literature has been criticized for providing only fragmented results and for not being able to develop a widely accepted model of export performance, thus limiting theoretical advancement in this field (Diamantopoulos 1998; Morgan, Kaleka, and Katsikeas 2004; Zou and Stan 1998).

Scholars have used many different measures to assess export performance, making it difficult to compare findings and leaving considerable room for inconsistency and confusion (Zou, Taylor, and Osland 1998). When studies try to measure export performance, they face several challenges that show the complexity of assessing the construct. Even though everybody may want the firm to perform very well abroad, shareholders and managers, for instance, may have different views on this issue when setting targets, which makes it much more difficult to reach consensus concerning the operational measures to be used (Cameron 1986; Madsen 1998). A firm is successful if the targets set are met or exceeded. But what were the targets in the first place? Were they even obtainable? Therefore, when managers are asked to assess the export performance of the firm, they have a serious problem because it is not always evident which performance goals...