ISO 9000 quality system certification and its impact on product and process innovation performance

Abstract

ISO 9000 quality system certification has been widely applied around the world, but with mixed success. A review of the literature revealed gaps in research in this area of quality/operations management, particularly in the empirical testing of the effects of ISO 9000 certification on innovation performance. This study examines the impact of ISO 9000 certification on product and process innovation performance of 220 Australian organizations. Our results show that ISO 9000 certification does not have a statistically significant relationship with product innovation performance measures such time-to-market (TTM) of new products. ISO 9000 certification tends to drive out variance increasing activities, which in turn affects the organization׳s ability to innovate. Conversely, ISO 9000 certification has a positive and significant impact on process innovation performance measures such as restructuring and application of the internal customer concept. ISO 9000 certified firms are more likely to include restructuring, and to apply the internal customer concept throughout their organization to improve cooperation and to create flatter structures as part of their process innovation activities. The findings of this study have implication for managers and auditing bodies. Managers should exercise caution when choosing processes to certify, and auditing bodies should consider the paradox between product innovation and process innovation in the next revision of the ISO 9000 standard.