The education sector is an important pillar of a nation's economic and social development. Yet, limited research has been conducted on the performance management of those in managerial positions in the Chinese higher education sector context. Given the Chinese government's recent espoused ambition, and resource commitment, to build world-class universities and world-class disciplines, this is a significant gap. Drawing on data collected from 18 semi-structured interviews and 693 survey responses, we examine the relationship between the extent to which performance evaluation is used for monitoring and decision-making purposes, and role conflict, organizational citizenship behavior and performance. Our study contributes to existing knowledge on the performance management system in the Chinese higher education sector by revealing its unique characteristics underpinned by competing rationalities and demands on academic leaders. It highlights the need for improvement in human resource management if China is serious in building first-class universities.Key pointsPerformance management remains one of the most challenging aspects of human resource management in China. Performance pressure for academic leaders is intensifying in Chinese universities as a result of the Government's strategic drive to build first-class universities. Our studies yield a contextual account of the experiences of, and competing rationalities underpinning, performance evaluation in the Chinese higher education system.