Firms pursue third-party certification to private standards to reduce firm-level information asymmetries of certain unobservable characteristics and thus obtain legitimacy. However, when the private standard’s legitimacy dilutes, those same firms have reasons to abandon certifications...

Firms are frequently pressured by customers to obtain certification to one or more voluntary sustainability standards. However, uncertainty associated with competing voluntary sustainability standards can reduce the value of standard certifications and jeopardize the entire voluntary regulatory...

The markets in which organizations currently operate require them to use behaviour based on both exploitation strategy and exploration strategy, each of which contributes fundamental benefits for the firm’s success. Exploitation strategy attempts to obtain the maximum advantage from existing...