Factors influencing firm propensity for ISO 9001 withdrawal: Evidence on decertification tendency and antecedents

摘要

There are approximately 1,000,000 ISO 9001 certified companies worldwide. Every year, one third of these companies must decide whether to renew, or not, their certificate. The number of companies that abandon or lose the certificate has been growing and reached an average of 60,000 per year. Considering that there is currently no theory or model to explain this propensity of firms to decertify (18%), the aim of this study is to identify the underlying factors influencing firm propensity for ISO 9001 withdrawal and to analyse the relationships between these factors. In order to achieve these aims, the research develops a structural equation model (PLS-SEM), from extant literature, and estimates the model with survey data from a sample of 221 ISO 9001 certified companies. Results show that the main antecedents to decertification propensity are barriers to the initial certification, (absence of) external certification benefits, decertification motivations, and expected performance after decertification. This is the first study to address decertification from a systemic and comprehensive perspective and to present a structural equation model of the phenomenon. The study makes an integrated contribution to explain decertification propensity with the help of novel research variables. Results suggest several contributions to theory, and practice, and contribute to clarify a major contradiction in the field.