Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have emerged as essential tools for evaluating organizational and project-based performance across various industries. An increasing amount of research emphasizes the necessity of shifting from conventional, quantitative, and financially oriented measurements to more process-oriented and context-sensitive methods.
The implementation of KPIs in a range of industries, such as manufacturing, education, healthcare, construction, government, and e-commerce, is examined by Setiawan and Purba (2020) in a thorough analysis of 50 peer-reviewed publications published between 2011 and 2020. According to their findings, the complexity of performance in today’s dynamic, information-based environments cannot be adequately captured by traditional performance measures, which place a strong emphasis on financial and accounting indicators. In order to enable the meaningful application of KPI-based evaluation frameworks, they instead support the adoption of process-oriented organizational structures with clearly defined and standardized procedures.
KPIs are crucial for tracking project success across several dimensions, including cost, time, quality, and stakeholder engagement, according to Maina and Adamu (2022), who support this viewpoint. Their research emphasizes how crucial it is becoming to customize KPIs to the unique objectives, context, and value systems of each project, especially in intricate or multidisciplinary fields. They contend that in order to provide a complete picture of success, effective KPIs must consider both observable results and intangible contributions.
Building on these discoveries, the current project, which is part of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) framework, suggests creating a new set of qualitative KPIs that are specifically intended to assess R&D activities in the creative industries, with a focus on wearable technology, game development, and filmmaking. By promoting qualitative, context-sensitive performance evaluation that captures innovation, societal relevance, and creative excellence, this initiative aims to replace strict, metric-driven evaluation systems.
Supported by the Middle East Technical University’s (METU) extensive research infrastructure encompassing more than 2,000 faculty members and 37 research centers, this project aims to set a precedent for a more inclusive, fair, and interdisciplinary research evaluation environment.
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