The effects of standardization on entrepreneurship are a research field for which a lot still needs to be done. In particular, there is little research into the adoption of de jure standards by entrepreneurs. These standards are the product of committee-based standardization, which is when committees consisting of stakeholders that are related to the respective topic are coordinated by formal standards organizations to come to a consensus and formalize a standard. De jure standards are applied by for example governments to assist companies in complying with regulations but are not necessarily compulsory themselves. The factors affecting the adoption of these standards by high-tech entrepreneurs and the effects that they have are a relevant topic for further research. Thus, the research objective of this thesis is to investigate which factors affect the de jure standards adoption by high-tech start-ups, and within the scope of the Netherlands. In addition to this, the thesis also aims to discover if the factors effecting de jure standards adoption are possible to influence by the Dutch standards organization (the NEN), and if so, how.
This thesis is setup as a theory-building, explorative case study consisting of 3 rounds of data collection. The first is a literature review into the studies of de jure standards adoption and the determination of which major recurring theories and frameworks are applied in these studies. Three major recurring applied theories were found, the diffusion of innovation, neo-institutionalism and the network economics approach applied in the TOE framework. A list of potential factors was formulated from the factors applied in the relevant studies, using the aforementioned theories and frameworks. The literature-backed list consists of: (1) Perceived relative advantage, (2) Perceived compatibility, (3) Perceived complexity, (4) Observability, (5) Competitive pressure, (6) Environmental uncertainty, (7) Mimetic pressure, (8) Coercive pressure, (9) External support, (10) Normative pressure, (11) Management support, (12) Centralization, (13) Formalization, and (14) Organizational size.
This list of factors was used as a basis for the 2nd step of data collection in this case study: the 1st round of semi-structured interviews. This 1st round of interviews consisted of interviews with 6 cases: 5 Dutch high-tech start-ups and a NEN official. The interview transcripts were codified and analyzed to determine which factors the start-ups identify, and which effect they mention the factor has. Factors were also mentioned that were not included in the literature-backed list. These were axially (thematically) analyzed to formulate new propositional factors. The transcripts were then analyzed again to determine if the new propositional factors were mentioned by the others as well, and which effect they mention. This data is used to build upon the literature-backed list of factors. The result is thus a list of factors consisting of literature-backed factors that were identified and the new propositional factors. In other words, a list of factors that the high-tech start-ups and the NEN official identify. This list consists of: (1) Perceived relative advantage, (2) Perceived compatibility, (3) Perceived complexity, (4) Environmental uncertainty, (5) Mimetic pressure, (6) Coercive pressure, (7) External support, (8) Normative pressure, (9) Management support, (10) Centralization, (11) Formalization, (12) Organizational size, (13) Awareness/prior knowledge, (14) Processual characteristics, (15) Trust in evolution of standard and (16) Costs. The effects of the standards were also collected, interpreted and discussed. A significant outcome is that there is a distinction between the adoption of a single standard and the adoption of a combination of standards and that this can be seen as a factor, which has a moderating effect on certain other factors.
The last round of data collection consisted of a 2nd round of semi-structured interviews with 2 cases: (1) a NEN official and (2) two standards organization experts. These interviews were to determine which factors the cases identify as possible to influence and how. The results of this are that the cases identify the factors of coercive pressure, awareness/prior knowledge, trust in evolution of standard and costs as possible to influence.
This research is one of the first studying the factors affecting de jure standards adoption by high-tech start-ups. There are multiple points of contribution to theoretical literature: the aforementioned list of identified factors and their respective effects on de jure standards adoption, and the factors that were determined possible to influence.