In our society, it has become normal to measure and express performance in numbers, whether it regards someone’s performance within an organization, on the playing field, or at university. But why do we feel the need to express those concepts in numbers? And do those performance measures have desirable effects? That is what FEB alumnus Berend van der Kolk investigated and wrote about in his book De Meetmaatschappij (English: The Measurement Society). In a conversation with Van der Kolk, we looked back on the start of his research career in Groningen and where his endeavors have brought him to this day.

Van der Kolk said that being a student at the University of Groningen shaped his career path and research interest in many ways. “When I started studying, I didn’t realize I could work at the university later and become a researcher myself. I was fascinated by what other professors were doing”, he expressed. Van der Kolk’s research interest was first instigated by a conversation he had with one of his teachers. “At the end of the master of Business Administration, I was talking to one of my professors, Jan van Helden. I came to realize that I both liked writing theses and teaching. After more conversations with Van Helden and one of my future thesis supervisors Henk ter Bogt, I decided I wanted to work at the university”. 

Van der Kolk gained his first teaching experience in the department of Accounting. After teaching for one year, he enrolled as a PhD student of professors Paula van Veen-Dirks and Henk ter Bogt. His research focused on management control in the public sector, studying for instance how public sector employees could be motivated to do their jobs well. In his current position as an associate professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Van der Kolk can combine research and teaching in a perfectly balanced way. “I enjoy both aspects of my position as a professor, in which I can spend some alone time behind my computer to do statistical analyses for example, and the social aspects of my job like teaching and doing qualitative research myself”. 

Another way in which his time at the University of Groningen has influenced his career and research interest is that he had the opportunity to take a broad array of courses; it was possible to follow additional courses like psychology or philosophy, and so he did. He acquired a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy of Social Sciences, which taught him to shed light on problems from different angles, something that also inspired him to write his book. But not only the courses at university influenced his career path and research interest: “Student life in Groningen in general makes for a nurturing environment and contributed greatly to my academic and personal development”.  

The downside of measuring everything
The book The Measurement Society was published in November 2021. In his book, Van der Kolk aims to answer the questions why we measure everything and what effects that may have. “I think the desire to measure everything gives us some sort of grip on the complex notions of performance and quality. Getting a good grade on a test or running your usual lap faster each time makes you more motivated to keep going”. With these examples, Van der Kolk demonstrates that when we measure something, this can instantly affect us. It shifts our focus to improve our performance, but on the other hand, it could work adversely and cause stress. 

Aside from the consequences that performance measurement may have on an individual level, another negative side-effect of performance measurement is so-called indicatorism. Coining the term himself, Van der Kolk defines indicatorism as behavior that is aimed at improving a certain indicator, while losing sight of the original goal. “For instance, when a shop assistant’s performance is contingent on a specific amount of sales they make, they will focus on only that: selling as many products as possible”, Van der Kolk explains. “Other activities that are also important but difficult to measure or quantify, such as being a fun or caring colleague, can suffer from this. With my book, I wanted to make clear that besides benefits, performance measures may also have adverse effects”.

Competition and polarization
There are two major effects of our obsession with performance measures that Van der Kolk further highlights in his book. “Even the simplest things such as taking a walk in the park become a competition if you express it in how many steps you’ve taken a day or how much time you’ve spent outside and compare this to the ‘performance’ of others”, he says. Similarly, Spotify always makes a yearly report of the most popular artists and hits. “Justin Bieber was listened to more often than the Beatles. It might be tempting to draw conclusions based on those numbers, but it’s also highly problematic. When you express the ‘performance’ or ‘quality’ of music in numbers, reality gets distorted”, Van der Kolk continues. “I don’t think it is particularly helpful to perceive leisure activities or music as a competition, which happens easily when we express everything in numbers and see that one is ‘better’ than the other”. 

In our digital age, internet applications can also measure performance. The more clicks, likes and shares a message, tweet or video gets, the more frequently it is seen by others; the algorithm is adjusted based on what people click on, like or share. According to Van der Kolk, this could ultimately fuel polarization within society. “A very nuanced tweet is not likely to go viral, whereas a tweet that reflects an extreme position will stir the pot. Constantly measuring what is ‘good’ content or worth sharing can eventually fuel a sharper divide among parties participating in the debate. 

Treat numbers with caution
Another reason for writing the book? Academic articles are often not readily available or easy to read for non-researchers. Van der Kolk noticed that when he talked about the topic of performance measurement and its effects, many people could and would proceed to talk about their own experiences. He adds: “I also wanted to write something accessible about the research projects that have been carried out within and outside of the discipline of accounting. Doing so in a less formal way with relatable examples helps, I think, to make it more interesting or appealing for people who do not read academic journals regularly”. 

Furthermore, he remarked that we should treat the information retrieved from performance measurement systems with caution. According to Van der Kolk, it is ‘dangerous’ to just take performance measurements for what they are when they do not capture the entirety of the concept. The numbers that come from quantified performance measures frequently do not consider contextual factors that may influence someone’s performance. Therefore, it is sometimes unfair or even incorrect to say that someone ‘performs’ in a certain way, as often our ‘performance’ is a coproduction with colleagues, other parties and external factors.  “When you quantify something, you reduce it to a one-dimensional scale. You lose so much context and information that essentially renders the results at best very limited and potentially misleading”.

It takes a village
The writing process was powered by approximately a thousand cups of coffee consumed in different coffee bars in Madrid. “I definitely drank a lot of coffee during the process!”, Van der Kolk chuckles. “I used to go to different coffee bars, turn off my Wi-Fi, and just read as much as I could to get a clear idea of what I wanted to write”. He studied and reviewed literature on the topic, figured out what he wanted to write in each chapter, and started writing. Each time he finished a chapter, he sent it to both academic and non-academic friends for feedback. “I wanted to write something that is accessible for many people, so I also asked friends with different backgrounds to read it and give me feedback on the content and form of the chapters”. Looking back, Van der Kolk describes the writing process as a social process in which many people helped him write the book. “Even though my name is on the cover, I definitely didn’t write this book all by myself. Many people in my surrounding have contributed to the realization of this book in one way or another”. 

Want to know more? De Meetmaatschappij is available for order as paperback, e-book and audiobook. Find more information (in Dutch) at www.meetmaatschappij.nl. 

A selection of publications related to this topic:

• Van der Kolk, B. (2022), Numbers speak for themselves, or do they? On performance measurement and its implications, Business & Society, forthcoming. (link)
• Van Elten, H.J., B. van der Kolk and S. Sülz (2021), Do Different Uses of Performance Measurement Systems in Hospitals Yield Different Outcomes? Health Care Management Review, vol. 46(3), pp. 217-226. (link)
• Van der Kolk, B., P.M.G. van Veen-Dirks and H.J. ter Bogt (2019), The Impact of Management Control on Employee Motivation and Performance in the Public Sector. European Accounting Review, vol. 28(5), pp. 901-928. (link)