Research on the effects of commitment-based management or high-performance work systems grounded in long-term trust between companies and their members has been continuously presented. However, while firms may pursue a commitment-oriented philosophy at the overall strategic level, they also employ management approaches that restrain commitment depending on the circumstances, and real options theory provides a persuasive rationale for this aspect. Real options theory suggests that when exogenous uncertainty is high, firms should make option-like decisions. The real options perspective has been extensively discussed in the context of investment decisions and multinational enterprises' foreign market entry, but has more recently been applied to human resource management issues as well. This paper analyzes the propositions of real options theory using performance-based pay systems as one form of HR options. The uncertainty facing firms was measured using ownership structure and industry characteristics, and relevant data were collected through a survey of 171 firms supplemented by secondary data. The statistical analysis revealed that foreign-invested firms, which face higher uncertainty and risk associated with ownership structure, exhibited a greater utilization of performance-based pay as an HR option. Additionally, the longer foreign-invested firms had been operating in Korea, the lower their utilization of such systems became. However, the effect of cultural distance—a factor that increases uncertainty for foreign-invested firms—was not significant. Meanwhile, the effect of industry uncertainty, measured by stock volatility, on the intensity of performance-based pay was also not statistically significant. These results suggest that uncertainty related to ownership structure has a relatively greater effect on option-like decision-making than exogenous uncertainty from industry characteristics. While the options perspective can be applied to human resource management practices such as performance-based pay systems, unlike financial decision-making, the utilization of HR options may generate negative spillover effects such as decreased organizational commitment and excessive interpersonal competition. Therefore, firms appear to need careful consideration in their use of HR options.