اثرات محرک های انگیزشی و عوامل دیگر بر نتایج اجرای استانداردهای ISO 9001

ABSTRACT The influence of motivations and other factors on the results of implementing ISO 9001 standards

The construction sector is one of the most important in the world, representing 12.2% of world GDP in 2012 and it can reach 13.5% of GDP in 2025, which would mean a turnover of 15 trillion dollars.1 Similarly, in Spain, this sector is one of the most important sectors in the national economy. According to SEOPAN (National Association of Public Works Companies) (2013), this sector accounted for 8% of national GDP in 2011 and 7% of employment (1.1 million employees), taking into account that at the moment of the greatest expansion of the economic cycle (2006), it reached 12.6% of GDP and 13.9% of employment (2.7 million employees).

On the other hand, currently the high competition level of most markets in developed economies is forcing companies toward strong quality development, so that with time, quality management is confused with the very concept of management or business management (Casadesus & Heras, 2005). In this context, quality management systems allow companies to equip themselves with management tools to establish policies and responsibilities, allocate resources and identify key activities (Criado & Calvo, 2009).

In this environment, quality assurance standards arise, among which the ISO 9000 series of Standards, which appeared in 1987, are the most widespread, often constituting the first contact of companies with quality (Martínez, Rodríguez, & Vázquez, 2004). These standards have been widely accepted in companies from different countries, so that by the end of 2013 there were 1,129,446 companies certified worldwide, 485,554 at European level and 42,632 in Spain (ISO, 2014).

The construction sector is one of those affected by the situation of strong competition described above. In addition, this sector was hit particularly hard by the recessive situation of the economic cycle that was experienced in Spain until last year, so that its expansion outside national borders was constituted as a way of survival. In this internationalization environment, standardization appears as a key mechanism that favors exchange and international trade, by eliminating the obstacles derived from the practices of each country (Heras & Boiral, 2013), since the purpose of these standards is to standardize procedures, functions and roles (Braun, 2005, Guler et al., 2002). Due to all the above, the implementation of ISO 9001 is very widespread within the construction sector, so that in terms of the number of certified companies, the construction sector occupies the third place worldwide, while in Spain it ranks first with a total of 5061 certifications (ISO, 2014).

The implementation of these standards is associated with a number of both initial monetary and maintenance costs (Pires, Cociorva, Saraiva, Novas, & Rosa, 2013), with the expectation of achieving benefits that monetize the investment made, thus compensating these initial costs (Alic, 2014, Heras et al., 2010, Magd, 2008, Sampaio et al., 2010). However, these investments are not always compensated by the positive results achieved (Psomas, 2013). All this seems to indicate that adherence to these standards is not sufficient, but there are certain factors that can condition positive results (Boiral, 2011, Lee et al., 2009, Psomas et al., 2010).

The objective of this paper is to analyze the possible influence of the following factors on the positive effects of implementation of ISO 9001 in companies in the Spanish construction sector: (a) different types of motivation (internal and/or external) for adherence; (b) the size of the company; (c) the age of adherence to the mentioned Standard.

To do this, once this introduction is finished, the conceptual framework of this work will be developed in the next section of the article, and then the methodology used will be described, which consists of dealing with the data obtained from the questionnaires received, by using a multiple linear regression model. Subsequently, sections four and five will show the results obtained from the model mentioned, as well as the conclusions, limitations and future lines of research that are derived from them.