Global Competition, Institutions, and the Diffusion of Organizational Practices: The International Spread of ISO 9000 Quality Certificates

Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 47(2) (2002): 207-232

Posted: 26 Nov 2016

See all articles by Isin Guler

Isin Guler

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - Kenan-Flagler Business School

Mauro F. Guillen

University of Pennsylvania - Management Department

J. Muir Macpherson

Georgetown University, Robert E McDonough School of Business

Date Written: June 2002

Abstract

We use panel data on ISO 9000 quality certification in 85 countries between 1993 and 1998 to better understand the cross-national diffusion of an organizational practice. Following neoinstitutional theory, we focus on the coercive, normative, and mimetic effects that result from the exposure of firms in a given country to a powerful source of critical resources, a common pool of relevant technical knowledge, and the experiences of firms located in other countries. We use social network theory to develop a systematic conceptual understanding of how firms located in different countries influence each other's rates of adoption as a result of cohesive and equivalent network relationships. Regression results provide support for our predictions that states and foreign multinationals are the key actors responsible for coercive isomorphism, cohesive trade relationships between countries generate coercive and normative effects, and role-equivalent trade relationships result in learning-based and competitive imitation.

Suggested Citation

Guler, Isin and Guillen, Mauro Federico and Macpherson, J. Muir, Global Competition, Institutions, and the Diffusion of Organizational Practices: The International Spread of ISO 9000 Quality Certificates (June 2002). Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 47(2) (2002): 207-232, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2871566

Isin Guler (Contact Author)

University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill - Kenan-Flagler Business School ( email )

McColl Building
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3490
United States

Mauro Federico Guillen

University of Pennsylvania - Management Department ( email )

The Wharton School
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6370
United States
215-573-6267 (Phone)
215-326-3205 (Fax)

J. Muir Macpherson

Georgetown University, Robert E McDonough School of Business ( email )

Washington, DC 20057
United States

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