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****Call for Abstracts - Apologies for Cross Postings****

The Social Dynamics of Standardization

25th EGOS Colloquium, July 2–4, 2009, Barcelona

Conveners: Nils Brunsson (Stockholm Schools of Economics); Andreas Rasche (Helmut-Schmidt-University Hamburg); David Seidl (University of Zurich)

Deadline for submission of abstracts (up to 3000 words): January 11, 2009

(online submission via www.egosnet.org)

In modern organizations and societies, standards are proliferating. They occur in most fields (e.g., corporate governance, financial and social auditing, product development, technical design), take many forms (e.g., membership standards, multi-stakeholder standards), and are particularly relevant when we are thinking about regulating organizations beyond national boundaries (Brunsson &Jacobsson 2000; Djelic & Sahlin-Andersson 2006). In a broad sense, we can define standards as a particular type of rules: voluntary rules that are explicitly formulated to pertain to a wide set of actors (individuals or organizations). Many organizations are involved in developing, sustaining, and implementing standards. Such organizations include, but are not limited to, standard makers, adopters, monitoring and certification agencies, and the wider public.

Standards and standardization are often addressed as part of the wider discussion of organizational regulation. Regulation involves creating and propagating more or less explicit rules and thus fosters the formation of social order. Hence, studying standards allows us to consider both the "demand side" of order, i.e., how organizations and individuals are affected by organizing efforts, and the "supply side," i.e., how organizing elements are produced. 

Despite their pervasiveness and significance in modern life, social scientists have given comparatively little serious attention to standards. It is only within the last few years that researchers have started to systematically explore standards and the process of standardization. Apart from research on individual standards such as ISO 9000 (e.g., Beck & Walgenbach 2005), CSR standards (e.g., Déjan et al. 2004) or accounting standards (e.g., Perry & Noelke 2005), there are now also attempts to explore the logic of standards per se (e.g., Mörth 2004).

In this EGOS sub-theme we want to bring together the various strands of theorizing in this nascent area of research. We do so to take stock of the developments and to advance the research agenda. We are particularly (but by no means exclusively) interested in exploring the various dynamics underlying standardization: those involved in standards development, standards adoption, standards following, and standards enforcement. By focusing on the dynamic aspect of standards and standardization, we can look into the social interactions, political maneuvers, power relations, manipulative practices, and external pressures that shape the production and adoption of standards by organizations. Researching the dynamic character of standards also implies a close examination of the evolution, growth, maturation, and disappearance of standards in society. We are interested in discussing the organization and production standards on the macro level (i.e., society) and the micro-level institutional practices that standard implementation brings about.

Thus, we call for papers that deal with the various aspects and dynamics of standardization. We are interested in conceptual and empirical studies that draw on a variety of theoretical perspectives, such as institutional theory, micro-political approaches, social theories of practice, and in quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches.

Possible topics for contributions include, but are not limited to, the following issues:

§        Growth and Context of Standardization: To what extent have standards emerged as alternatives to governmental regulations? What role do standards play in relation to international and supranational governmental regulations? How should we distinguish between the different types of standards? What influences the possible future growth and expansion of standards in different fields?

§        Production/Evolution/Change of Standards: Who is and who can be responsible for developing standards? How are standard setters themselves organized? To what extent are standards and standard setters accountable to their stakeholders and the wider public? What problems can arise within the process of standardization? What theoretical perspectives can help us to better understand the global diffusion of international standards, and their possible consequences, both intended and unintended? How do standards gain legitimacy in the eyes of adopters and the wider public? How much innovation is needed and desirable when revising and improving standards?

§        Adoption/Implementation of Standards: How are standards implemented in corporations? What drives firms to adopt standards? What impact can we expect from the implementation of standards?  How can we measure this impact in a meaningful way? How and why are standards modified during the process of implementation? Does standards implementation foster and/or impede creativity and innovation among adopters? Under what circumstances does the adoption of standards produce hypocritical behavior and inconsistencies between talk and action?

§        Standards and the Transformation of Organizations: How do standards affect the social practices in organizations? To what extent is the recent rise of standards connected to the decrease of bureaucratic forms of organization? How do organizations deal with the tension between standardization and the quest for autonomy? How do standards influence the work of/in meta-organizations such as the EU or UN?

§        Standards and the Role of "Third Parties": What "third parties", such as customers and auditors, are involved in the standardization process? How do they affect the likelihood and form in which standards are adopted? What influence do they have on the development of standards?

§        Competition and Compatibility Among Standards: What determines which standard setter attracts the most followers? What factors foster and impede competition among standards? Which factors foster monopoly and stability? What is the relation between competition and compatibility among standards? Does competition among standard setters drive creativity in terms of the content of standards?

Literature:

Beck, M. and P. Walgenbach: 2005, Technical Efficiency of Adaptation to Institutional Expectations? – The Adoption of ISO 9000 Standards in the German Mechanical Engineering Industry, Organization Studies 26(6), 841–866.

Brunsson, N. and B. Jacobsson: 2000, A World of Standards (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press).

Déjean, F., Gond J.-P. and B. Leca: 2004, `Measuring the Unmeasured: An Institutional Entrepreneur Strategy in an Emerging Industry', Human Relations 57: 740-64.

Djelic, M.-L. and K. Sahlin-Andersson (eds.): 2006, Transnational Governance – Institutional Dynamics of Regulation (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press).

Mörth, U. (ed): 2004, Soft Law in Governance and Regulation: An Interdisciplinary Analysis. (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar).

Perry, J. and A. Noelke: 2005, International Accounting Standard Setting: A Network Approach, Business and Politics 7: 1-12.

Nils Brunsson holds the City of Stockholm Chair in Management at the Stockholm School of Economics since 1986. He has published more than 20 books and numerous articles on organizations. His research includes studies of decision-making, administrative reforms and standardization. He is now working with issues of rule-setting and regulation as well as with the organization of markets. His latest book in English is The Consequences of Decision-Making (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Andreas Rasche is Assistant Professor at Helmut-Schmidt-University, University of the German Federal Armed Forces in Hamburg. He researches and publishes on the emergence, distribution and implementation of accountability standards (incl. Journal of Business Ethics, Business Ethics Quarterly) and is author of numerous book chapters on international accountability standards as well as Guest Editor of a Special Issue of Business Ethics Quarterly and Organization Studies on standardization in the field of social and environmental issues. He has gained working experience at the United Nations in Washington D.C. and New York.

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