This paper reports the performance measurement practices of four Japanese banks. The research is a field study informed by the new institutional sociology theory. It sought to understand and explain what factors affected the design and use of non-financial performance measurement systems in the banks studied. The results indicate that several institutional forces influenced the banks to implement a particular performance measurement system. Of these, economic constraints appeared to be the most forceful factor, followed by the central bank's regulatory control, accounting standards/financial legislation, management's strategic focus, bank size, competition, and organizational tendency to copy best practices from others.