In this paper we examine technical and internal organizational contingencies which encourage and discourage the adoption of institutionalized structural elements, namely ISO 9000 standards. The results show that the extent of customized production and a dominant influence of top management on quality control decisions reduce the likelihood of adopting ISO 9000 standards. However, the latter factor changes its influence significantly with greater organizational size and administrative intensity — two entities which increase the pressure to adapt to external expectations.
Agresti, Alen1990Categorical data analysis. New York: Wiley .
2.
Baron, James N. , Frank R. Dobbin , and P. Devereaux Jennings1986‘War and peace. The evolution of modern personnel administration in US industry’ . American Journal of Sociology92: 350–383 .
3.
Beck, Nikolaus , and Peter Walgenbach2003‘ISO 9000 and formalization. How organizational contingencies affect organizational responses to institutional forces’ . Schmalenbach Business Review55: 294–320 .
4.
BDI (Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie) 1992 BDI-Firmenumfrage über die Nachfrage nach zertifizierten Qualitätssicherungssystemen von ausländischen Kunden. Köln: BDI.
5.
Dacin, M. Tina1997‘Review: Institutions and organizations. W. Richard Scott’. Administrative Science Quarterly42: 821–824 .
6.
Davis, Gerald F.1991‘Agents without principles? The spread of the poison pill through the intercorporate network’ . Administrative Science Quarterly36: 583–613 .
7.
Davis, Gerald F. , and Henrich R. Greve1997‘Corporate elite networks and governance changes in the 1980s’ . American Journal of Sociology103: 1–37 .
8.
Deiss, Manfred 1994 ‘Der lange Weg von der Qualitätsinspektion zur Qualitätsproduktion in Netzwerken’. Qualität und Zuverlässigkeit 39: 363–370.
9.
Delmestri, Giuseppe 2002 Institutionen, Technik und Ökonomie. Eine organisationstheoretische Untersuchung des deutschen und italienischen Maschinenbaus. München: Hampp.
10.
Denkeler 2003 ‘Denkeler Qualitätsmanagement Beratung und Begleitung von Qualitätsmanagementprojekten’ (http://denkeler-qm.de)
11.
DiMaggio, Paul J. , and Walter W. Powell1983‘The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields’ . American Sociological Review48: 147–160 .
12.
Dobbin, Frank R. , Lauren B. Edelman , John W. Meyer , W. Richard Scott , and Ann Swidler1988‘The expansion of due process in organizations’ in Institutional patterns and organizations. L. G. Zucker (ed.), 71–98. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger .
13.
Dobbin, Frank , and John R. Sutton1998‘The strength of a weak state: The rights revolution and the rise of human resources management divisions’ . American Journal of Sociology104: 441–476 .
14.
Edelman, Lauren B.1990‘Legal environments and organizational governance: The expansion of due process in the American workplace’ . American Journal of Sociology96: 1401–1440 .
15.
Edelman, Lauren B.1992‘Legal ambiguity and symbolic structures: Organizational mediation of civil rights law’ . American Journal of Sociology97: 1531–1576 .
16.
Fligstein, Neil1985‘The spread of the multidivisional form among large firms, 1919–1979’ . American Sociological Review50: 377–391 .
17.
Galaskiewicz, Joseph , and Stanley Wasserman1989‘Mimetic processes within an interorganizational field: An empirical test’ . Administrative Science Quarterly34: 454–479 .
18.
Galaskiewicz, Joseph , and Ronald S. Burt1991‘Interorganization contagion in corporate philanthropy’ . Administrative Science Quarterly36: 88–105 .
19.
Guler, Isin , Mauro F. Guillén , and J. Muir Macpherson2002‘Global competition, institutions, and the diffusion of organizational practices: The international spread of ISO 9000 certificates’ . Administrative Science Quarterly47: 207–232 .
20.
Hilmer, Frederick G. , and Lex Donaldson1996Management redeemed. New York: Free Press .
21.
ISO 9001 1994 Qualitätsmanagementsystem – Modell zur Qualitätssicherung/Qm-Darlegung in Design/Entwicklung, Produkt, Montage und Wartung. Berlin: Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V.
22.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)2001The ISO Survey of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certificates. Tenth Cycle. Geneva: ISO .
23.
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)2002The ISO Survey of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certificates. Eleventh Cycle. Geneva: ISO .
24.
Kamiske, Gerd F. , Kristian Kassebohm , Christian Malorny , Horst Michael , and Hans-Dieter Schulze1994‘Qualifizierung, Auditierung und Zertifizierung im Meinungsspektrum zertifizierter Unternehmen – Resultate und Konsequenzen einer empirischen Studie’ in Praxis der Strategieentwicklung. H.C. Riekhof (ed.), 357–385. Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel .
25.
Kelly, Erin , and Frank Dobbin1999‘Civil rights law at work: Sex discrimination and the rise of maternity leave policies’ . American Journal of Sociology105: 455–492 .
26.
Kondra, Alex Z. , and Christopher R. Hinings1998‘Organizational diversity and change in institutional theory’ . Organization Studies19: 743–767 .
27.
Malorny, Christian 1996 TQM umsetzen: Der Weg zur Business Exzellenz. Stuttgart: Schäffer-Poeschel.
28.
Meyer, John W. , and Brian Rowan1977‘Institutional organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony’ . American Journal of Sociology83: 340–363 .
29.
Meyer, John W.1992‘Conclusion: Institutionalism and the rationality of formal organizational structure’ in Organizational environments: Ritual and rationality, 2nd edn.J. W. Meyer and W. R. Scott (eds), 261–282. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
30.
Oliver, Christine1991‘Strategic responses to institutional processes’ . Academy of Management Review16: 145–179 .
31.
Palmer, Donald A. , P. Devereaux Jennings , and Xueguang Zhou1993‘Late adoption of the multi-divisional form by large US corporations: Institutional, political, and economic accounts’ . Administrative Science Quarterly38: 100–131 .
32.
Peters, Tom1992Liberation management. Necessary disorganization for the nanosecond nineties. London: Macmillan .
33.
Pfeffer, Jeffrey , and Gerald R. Salancik1978The external control of organizations: A resource dependence perspective. New York: Harper & Row .
34.
Piore, Michael J. , and Charles F. Sabel1984The second industrial divide. New York: Basic Books .
35.
Powell, Walter W. , and Paul J. DiMaggio , editors 1991The new institutionalism in organizational analysis. Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
36.
Scott, W. Richard1987‘The adolescence of institutional theory’ . Administrative Science Quarterly32: 493–511 .
37.
Scott, W. Richard1998Organizations: Rational, natural and open systems. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall .
38.
Scott, W. Richard2001Institutions and organizations, 2nd edn.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
39.
Scott, W. Richard , and John W. Meyer , editors 1994Institutional environments and organizations: Structural complexity and individualism. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage .
40.
Sørensen , Jesper B. , and Toby E. Stuart2000‘Ageing, obsolescence, and organizational innovation’ . Administrative Science Quarterly45: 81–112 .
41.
Staw, Barry M. , and Lisa D. Epstein2000‘What bandwagons bring: Effects of popular management technique on corporate performance, reputation, and CEO pay’ . Administrative Science Quarterly45: 523–556 .
42.
Strang, David , and John W. Meyer1993‘Institutional conditions for diffusion’ . Theory and Society22: 487–511 .
43.
Sükrü, Özen 2001 The context of diffusion process of TQM in Turkey . Paper presented at the CEMP Workshop: Molde.
44.
Thompson, James D.1967Organizations in action. New York: McGraw-Hill .
45.
Tolbert, Pamela S. , and Lynne G. Zucker1983‘Institutional sources of change in the formal structure of organizations: The diffusion of Civil Service Reform, 1880–1935’ . Administrative Science Quarterly28: 22–39 .
46.
Tolbert, Pamela S. , and Lynne G. Zucker1996‘The institutionalization of institutional theory’ in Handbook of organization studies. S. R. Clegg , C. Hardy , and W. R. Nord (eds), 175–190. London: Sage .
47.
VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinenund Anlagenbau e. V.) 2000 http://www1.vdma.de/
Walgenbach, Peter2001‘The production of distrust by means of producing trust’ . Organization Studies22: 693–714 .
50.
Walgenbach, Peter2002‘Neoinstitutionalistische Organisationstheorie. State of the Art und Entwicklungslinien’ in Managementforschung 12. G. Schreyögg and P. Conrad (eds), 155–202. Wiesbaden: Gabler .
51.
Walgenbach, Peter , and Nikolaus Beck2002‘The institutionalization of the quality management approach in Germany’ in The expansion of management knowledge: Carriers, flows, and sources. K. Sahlin-Andersson and L. Engwall (eds), 145–174. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press .
52.
Westphal, James D. , and Edward J. Zajac1998‘The symbolic management of stockholders’ . Administrative Science Quarterly43: 127–153 .
53.
Westphal, James D. , and Edward J. Zajac2001‘Decoupling policy from practice’ . Administrative Science Quarterly46: 202–228 .
54.
Westphal, James D. , Ranjay Gulati , and Steve Michael Shortell1997‘Customization or conformity?’Administrative Science Quarterly42: 366–394 .
55.
Widmaier, Ulrich 2000 Der deutsche Maschinenbau in den neunziger Jahren. Frankfurt: Campus.
56.
Zucker, Lynne G.1987‘Institutional theories of organizations’ . Annual Review of Sociology13: 443–464 .
57.
Zucker, Lynne G. , editor 1988Institutional patterns and organizations. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger .
58.
Zwieten, J.W. v. 1972 ‘Qualitätssicherung in einer multinationalen Industrie’. DINMitteilungen 51: 475–479.
