The present study aimed to examine the effects of ecosystem development, motivation, network orientation, and the redesign of think tanks’ roles on performance management based on think-tank networks, considering the roles of network cohesion and implementation facilitation.This study was applied in terms of its purpose and employed a mixed-methods design (qualitative–quantitative) in terms of its implementation. The statistical population in the qualitative phase consisted of 19 faculty members, managers, and experts in public administration and performance management, who were selected through purposive sampling. In the quantitative phase, the statistical population comprised 173 employees working in governmental think tanks in Tehran, who were selected using simple random sampling.Data were collected through semi-structured interviews in the qualitative phase and questionnaires in the quantitative phase. For data analysis, the grounded theory approach was applied in the qualitative phase, whereas SmartPLS software was used in the quantitative phase. During the qualitative stage, 540 initial codes were extracted using the grounded theory method. These codes were subsequently categorized into 122 indicators, 32 components, and ultimately 13 dimensions.The findings revealed that the development of the think-tank network ecosystem exerted the strongest effect on network-based performance management, whereas orientation toward a network-based approach exhibited the weakest effect. Maintaining network cohesion played a mediating role in the relationships of role redesign and network orientation with network-based performance management. Moreover, facilitating the establishment of think-tank networks had a moderating effect on the relationships between ecosystem development and network orientation, on the one hand, and performance management, on the other hand.