Standards are ubiquitous in contemporary society and play a clear role in technological development, organizational functioning, and business success. Standards are very diverse and often boundary crossing in terms of stakeholders and impact, but are such diversity and range reflected by academic studies? We take stock of standardization research over the past decade, considering the full interdisciplinary breadth of this growing field. We use bibliometrics and network analysis to map emergent trends, and conduct an in-depth review of the literature. In doing so, we find that management science, along with economics, is at the core of work on standardization, bridging academic disciplines, and leading theoretical development. Technical disciplines, such as engineering and computer science, supply the largest body of literature, but rarely cross disciplinary boundaries and remain rather isolated. Building on our review, we discuss current debates and controversies and distill four interpretative perspectives on the recent and current developments of standardization research. Finally, we propose a research agenda for standardization research and practice for the years to come.@en

Standard-setting organizations (SSOs) establish goal-directed networks for innovators to jointly shape technology and markets through standards. The degree to which this can succeed depends to a large extent on network characteristics, which may differ substantially between SSOs. Many technological fields face intense competition between SSOs. Choosing the right one is thus a key strategic decision for innovators. Simultaneously, SSOs must reflect members’ preferences in their network set-ups and governance. Yet, little is known about these preferences. Based on extant literature, we derive hypotheses about how three themes of network attributes (membership base, rules, transaction costs) and contextual factors drive decision makers’ preferences. We conduct a comprehensive choice experiment with 141 standardization professionals in the Internet of Things field. Based on our data, we provide a more realistic indication of what firms value in SSOs than has been previously available. We also discuss our results’ implications for studying networks in other contexts.@en

Most studies of the impact of standardization on innovation focus on manufacturing sectors for which they often report positive impacts. However, in many countries services represent more than 50 per cent of gross domestic product, and while the number of standards for services is small, it is increasing. This chapter addresses service standardization and its impacts on innovation. First, it presents a model that allows to study service standardization and innovation in a systematic way. Next, the authors develop a conceptual model of the impact of service standards and involvement in service standardization committees on service innovation at the level of individual organizations as well as at market level. Testing this model in an empirical case, they show a positive impact of a standard at both levels, which seems to be enhanced by participation in standards setting. However, this is just one case and many categories of service standards and of service innovation apply, so more research is needed; the chapter ends with suggested directions for future research.@en

Standardisation is key to shaping new technologies and supporting major ongoing trends, such as the increased importance of platforms, developing 'smart' technologies and innovating large-scale complex systems. Standardisation plays a key role in shaping the rules that govern these developments and their effects on society. Due to the large variety of actors involved in these trends, the associated standardisation processes are likely to involve all three modes of standardisation identified in the literature: committee-based, market-based and government-based. This multi-mode standardisation challenges the theoretical views on standardisation which predominantly focus on one of the modes. In this paper, we review the existing literatures on individual modes and on multi-mode standardisation. By recombining existing evidence, we generate new insights into multi-mode standardisation processes. These first insights relate to the contributions that each mode can make to such processes' outcomes and suggest that their impact depends on factors, such as their initiation's timing and the institutional context in which the standardisation process occurs. Moreover, we consider the conditions under which actors can launch each mode. Based on our observations, we formulate an agenda for future research to obtain a better understanding of multi-mode standardisation. We offer recommendations for industry actors, NGOs, researchers and policy makers involved in shaping technological and societal change.

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