There is a considerable amount of management literature related to Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs) pertaining to their design, use, and updating. In addition, the management literature also discusses the proper framework of PMSs design as well as the importance of cascading, linking or aligning performance measures with strategy at all organisational levels.

The review of the management literature, has identified that there has been limited research examining how performance measures are used at different levels of organisations. There is also limited research on the cascading process of performance measures across various hierarchal levels in the literature. The fact that the measures are used differently or overlooked may either be good for the performance of those lower-level units or may have no effect on performance. Addressing these gaps in our knowledge is vital since using measures by the right level in the organisation will close the feedback loop.  Therefore, this paper is concerned with providing a better understanding of how performance measures are used in different levels and how they are cascaded/used throughout an organisation.