Research on technology standards: Accomplishment and challenges

Abstract

In this paper, we organize the fragmented management literature on technology standards according to a meta-theoretical scheme originally proposed by Astley and Van de Ven. We review over 89 relevant papers in influential journals in management, marketing and management-related disciplines. We observe that cumulative research streams on this topic have stayed within a single central perspective, that the development of research across the four central perspectives has been uneven, and that works incorporating multiple central perspectives have been few. We argue for complex models that take into account the two boundary conditions—technological complexity and institutional environment—that have been implicit in the extant literature. We also argue for theoretically grounded works in the collective action and strategic choice views, but the greatest opportunity lies in integrative works that will take us one step closer to a comprehensive view of technology standards.