IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/germec/v20y2019i1p83-104.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Masterful Meisters? Voluntary Certification and Quality in the German Crafts Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Fredriksen Kaja

    (Institute for Small Business Economics, ifh Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany)

  • Runst Petrik

    (Institute for Small Business Economics, ifh Göttingen, Gõttingen, Germany)

  • Bizer Kilian

    (Goettingen University, Göttingen, Germany)

Abstract

Voluntary certification systems potentially reduce search costs in markets with imperfect information. Service markets with many heterogeneous firms - such as the crafts market - are prone to information imperfections and can therefore potentially benefit from such informational mechanisms. We examine if the Meister qualification in the German crafts sector improves service quality as perceived by consumers. We find a significant and positive relationship between the Meister title and consumer ratings and conclude that the certificate is a credible sign of quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Fredriksen Kaja & Runst Petrik & Bizer Kilian, 2019. "Masterful Meisters? Voluntary Certification and Quality in the German Crafts Sector," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 83-104, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:germec:v:20:y:2019:i:1:p:83-104
    DOI: 10.1111/geer.12158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/geer.12158
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/geer.12158?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:germec:v:20:y:2019:i:1:p:83-104. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.