Except for its multidisciplinary and multistage perspectives, several decades of research on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) performance has produced little progress on the multilevel front to better understand M&A critical success factors (CSFs). This study is ripe to enhance our understanding of how CSFs may interplay across individual and organizational levels. As a result, we use a multilevel framework to analyze and illustrate how the interplay between individual and organizational levels may impact the understanding of CSFs in M&A performance research. Our methodological approach employs a content analysis in order to generate a categorization of pre- and post- acquisition CSFs using a multilevel framework. Furthermore, we identify and show four distinct interplays – upward, downward, both-way and no interplay – within and across prior identified M&A CSFs, and theoretically explained when each type of interplay arises. Finally, this work contributes to expanding our understanding of the ongoing cross-fertilization debate and establishes a foundation for the theoretical importance of a multilevel perspective to M&A performance research.