Managing employee performance in transition economies: A study of Vietnamese public organizations

Employee performance management (PM) is a public sector reform that furthers development objectives by increasing employee performance, aligning employee efforts with organizational goals, and addressing poor performance. This study discusses employee PM in development contexts. Based on varied employee PM efforts in Vietnamese public organizations, it finds that (a) advanced employee PM practices significantly increase perceived organizational and employee outcomes compared with less advanced employee PM practices, and that (b) executive accountability, Human resource (HR) autonomy and entrepreneurial leadership are strongly associated with successful implementation of employee PM. This article provides detailed description of employee PM practices and suggests implications for implementing public sector reforms in transitional settings.