Copyright 2015 ACM. Over the last decade, an increasing number of organizations have started software development in a globally distributed environment. One of the major challenges is that many organizations endorse the process of global software development without testing their management readiness for the globally distributed development activity. This includes work distribution through task allocation in the globally distributed development environment. The objective of this research paper is to identify factors that influence task allocation in global software development through carrying out a systematic literature review. We used customized search terms, derived from our research question, to identify literature on work distribution and task allocation in a global context. We identified criteria such as site technical expertise, time zone difference, resource cost, task dependency, vendor reliability, task size and vendor maturity level as key task allocation factors in globally distributed software projects. Based on the systematic literature review results, we suggest that there is a need to develop work distribution strategies and standards through global task allocation to help software development organizations in achieving the true potential of global software development at lower development costs and shorter time-to-market.