The longitudinal effects of the ISO 9000 certification process on business performance

This paper develops and tests several hypotheses relating to ISO 9000 quality system certification process using data collected in a cross-sectional study undertaken in Australia. Multivariate analysis is used to analyse the quantitative data and test the hypotheses. Our findings show that there is a significant and positive relationship between the manager's motives for adopting ISO 9000 certification and business performance. Those organisations that pursue certification willingly and positively across a broad spread of objectives are more likely to report improved organisational performance. The individual element found to contribute most to business performance was Customer Focus. The principal motivation to pursue ISO 9000 certification was found to come from customer pressure. Auditing style was found to have an insignificant (positive or negative) effect on business performance. The ability of the new ISO 9001-2000 standard to capture and meet the conformance and performance requirements of the organisation as part of a continuous improvement strategy will be a prime determinant of the extent to which managers embrace or reject ISO 9000 certification in the twenty first century.