Decertification from international management standards: a systematic literature review and research agenda

Purpose After 20 years of research on decertification from management system standards, this paper presents the first systematic literature review (SLR) and research agenda on the topic. Design/methodology/approach The study is structured as a SLR of articles retrieved from Elsevier’s Scopus. Findings Evidence is coded and classified to expound emerging themes around four key foci: drivers, performance implications, post-decertification paths, and contextual factors. Practical implications The outcomes offer valuable guidance to managers by highlighting relevant issues to consider when adopting, managing, and abandoning management system standards. Furthermore, regulatory bodies such as the International Organization for Standardization, Social Accountability International and B Lab could leverage our findings to gain a deeper understanding of the decertification phenomenon and take appropriate countermeasures to address and reverse it. Originality/value Our study identifies significant gaps in the academic body of knowledge and suggests several directions for further investigation, providing a solid foundation for future research.