Rigidity in Crisis : The Impact of Ohsas 18001 Certification on Production Repurposing in COVID-19

It is important for firms to repurpose production responsively during a crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic to seize market opportunity and create social value. However, occupational health and safety can also be a concern in a crisis, and adherence to occupational health and safety management systems can undermine a firm’s responsiveness in repurposing decision-making. We adopt the “capability–rigidity” lens to construct a connection between occupational health and safety management standards (i.e., OHSAS 18001) and firms’ adaptation responsiveness. After sampling 734 listed Chinese manufacturing firms, our match-based analysis reveals that firms with OHSAS 18001 are less responsive in production repurposing. However, learning from experiences of related products, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis, and other medical supply manufacturers in the area can attenuate this effect. We discuss the implications of our findings for the literature on safety management, certified management standards, and organizational adaptation and learning