Motivations for a firm's willingness to standardize: A perspective based on collective action theory

Standards allow companies to improve their competitiveness and achieve their strategic goals. Encouraging a strong willingness among firms to develop and implement standards is a complex task; consequently, the linkages between internal and external factors influencing this willingness require further exploration. This study considers interorganizational learning as an intermediate mechanism for empirical research and investigates the relationship between external motivation for collective action and a firm's willingness to participate in standards development. To verify the proposed theoretical model, this study used a questionnaire to collect 205 responses from companies belonging to the Zhejiang Brand Building Association. Structural equation modeling was conducted to verify the research framework. The results of this study reveal that an association's organizational capability has a direct positive effect on its willingness to develop and implement standards; however, government support and industrial scale have no significant positive direct effects on collective action willingness. Moreover, knowledge acquisition and knowledge application have mediating effects on the relationship between external motivation for collective action and willingness for collective action. This study analyzes the factors influencing a firm's participation in standardization activities on the basis of a collective action perspective and the mediating role of interorganizational learning. This study contributes to the literature by developing collective action and interorganizational learning theories.