ISO 9001 certification research: questions, answers and approaches

Purpose – The majority of ISO 9001 certification research studies conducted so far are supported by survey methodologies and descriptive statistics. As such, they express conclusions that are mainly derived from opinions and perceptions about the subject. Thus, it is common to find in the open literature references that point out the highly subjective results derived from such studies (often of somewhat contradictory nature). This paper tries to compile the main conclusions that ISO 9001 research studies have tried to address, with the aim of describing the quality management systems literature state‐of‐the‐art. Design/methodology/approach – In order to achieve this objective, an exhaustive literature review of ISO 9000 studies was carried out. For that purpose approximately 100 articles were analysed, which were sorted in the following categories, according to the used methodology: surveys; analysis of financial indicators; case studies; interviews; literature review; and statistical data analysis. Findings – This paper reflects an exhaustive literature review, which allowed the identification of a group of issues that ISO 9001 research studies have tried to address, as well as the most commonly used methodologies employed and main conclusions reached so far by the different authors. Then using such a state‐of‐the‐art as a starting point, it pointed out a number of questions that seem to be relevant but have not been so far addressed in the open literature in terms of providing clear and precise answers, as well as others that are at the core of the authors' future work in this area. Originality/value – The value of the paper is to point out and to compile the main conclusions reached by the different authors and researchers in the most important ISO 9001 issues addressed in the open literature.