A Resource Dependence Theory Perspective of ISO 9000 in Managing Organizational Environment

Abstract

More than 900,000 organizations worldwide have registered to the ISO 9000 quality management standard. Despite its growing popularity, few studies have offered a coherent theoretical basis for the standard's appeal. A theory‐based explanation enhances understanding and appreciation for the standard, and provides clarity on how the standard benefits organizations. In this paper, we invoke the resource dependence theory (RDT) to purport that the standard is used by organizations as a tool to manage their organizational environment. It does this by specifying procedures that organizations need to manage their organization–environment boundary spanning processes. Using the RDT perspective, a mod..