Manuscript type: Systematic literature review. Research aims: This systematic literature review (SLR) investigates contemporary research directions regarding Performance Management System (PMS) challenges by synthesizing literature on implementation barriers. Design/methodology/approach: Following PRISMA 2020 protocols and the PICo framework, the study identified 25 high-quality empirical articles (2015–2025) through rigorous screening and MMAT quality appraisal. Research findings: Thematic synthesis revealed four critical themes: public sector failure due to red tape and goal ambiguity; incompatibility of standardized PMS models with academic roles; execution failures where PMS becomes a perfunctory paper-exercise; and a shift toward integrated human-analytical systems. Theoretical contribution/originality: The study addresses a research gap in systematic synthesis, moving beyond traditional narrative reviews to provide a replicable, bias-minimized map of emergent research directions. Practitioner/policy implications: Organizations should abandon "off-the-shelf" models in favour of contextualized systems that strengthen the link between performance and rewards while fostering developmental coaching. Research limitations: The review is limited to English-language empirical articles from two databases, potentially excluding relevant regional insights or conceptual advancements in non-indexed journals.
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