How Do They Do it? An Empirically Based Taxonomy of Standards Development Organizations’ Resilience Strategies

Abstract

Drawing upon the theoretical frameworks of resilience theory and critical theory, this paper advances an innovative and interdisciplinary approach to the study of standardization. The paper builds on the notion of the “dark side” of organizational resilience – a critically informed perspective on the relationship between organizational and societal outcomes. Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) provide a particularly relevant context to study the dark side of organizational resilience, due to their focus on stability, expansion and global influence. Based on content analysis of data collected through interviews with 26 participants involved in standard setting within one of the 9 sampled SDOs in the area of goods manufacturing, a taxonomy of organizational resilience strategies is derived. In total, 28 resilience strategies were identified, organized along two axes – orientation (externally or internally oriented) and anticipation (proactive or reactive). The resilience strategies can thus be categorized into four clusters: reactive externally oriented (6 strategies), reactive internally oriented (10 strategies), proactive internally oriented (7 strategies) and proactive externally oriented (5 strategies). Internal strategies were mentioned more than external, and reactive more than proactive strategies, making reactive internal strategies the most reported cluster, and proactive external the least reported cluster of strategies. The observed empirical patterns are discussed drawing on sociological and social psychology theories, along with normative considerations, particularly with regards to the relationship between resilience and sustainability.

Funding: This paper was produced as a part of the REVEAL project, funded under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Grant Agreement n° 725798). The funder had no role in the design of this study, its execution, analyses, interpretation of the data, or decision to submit results.

Keywords: resilience, sustainability, critical management studies, standardization, greenwashing

JEL Classification: L15, L16, M14, M16