A resource dependence theory perspective of ISO 9000 in managing organizational environment

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 model with three key constructs embodying ISO 9000 was developed: internal processes, relationships with customers and relationships with suppliers. The latter two were treated as being part of the task environment. We predicted that the external aspects of the standard affect operating performance (a measure of effectiveness), both directly and through internal processes. Empirical data from 416 ISO 9000 registered Australian manufacturing plants validated the RDT perspective, and suggest that the three constructs, individually and in isolation, are not as effective as when they are considered together. By invoking RDT, a new theoretical viewpoint to ISO 9000 has been developed that adds to other theoretical perspectives, and goes some way to explaining the growing popularity of this standard with organizations.