Driving Factors for Dutch Service Providers to Participate in Formal Standardization

Abstract

The paper is motivated by the rising significance of the service industries and aims at testing whether this significance is adequately reflected within formal standardization at national standard bodies. The paper develops firm- and industry-specific hypotheses on the driving factors to participate in formal standardization and tests them based on a sample of 5,812 Dutch service providers, of which 174 actively participate in the Netherlands Standardization Institute NEN. Our results reveal that internal R&D, innovation, export activities, and the company size are positively related to the service provider’s likelihood to participate in formal standardization. In this respect, the participation of the more advanced service providers ensures that standardization represents “prior art”. From a policy perspective, encouraging R&D, innovation, or foreign trade might further stimulate standardization activities within the service industries. Additionally, the service industry and the service type are related to the propensity to standardize, confirming the heterogeneity of services within standardization.

Keywords: standardization, service, innovation, trade, R&D