Standardization research - Process and service standardization on the advance

Abstract

Standardization is a common approach in industry to manage complexity. It enables enterprises to realize e.g. costsavings and quality improvements. Numerous empirical studies examining different aspects of standardization have been carried out, but the research landscape itself has not been subject of many studies yet. This article gives an overview of standardization research activities over the last decades. The analysis of the distribution of research activities in the different fields of standardization research - product, process and service - will be of special interest. The study is based on a quantitative approach. The number of publications in the mentioned research fields is determined in three different online portals for academic literature. This study adds empirical evidence to existing assumptions of various authors about the current research landscape and possible topics of future research. Findings reveal that the number of publications referring to standardization in general is increasing strongly. Further research on process standardization seems to be on the advance, since the number of annual publications on process standardization exceeds those related to product standardization for a couple of years. Publications on service standardization are underrepresented compared to the other fields. But there are indicators that it will become more important in the near future.