TY - JOUR
T1 - OHSAS 18001 Certification and Operating Performance: The Role of Complexity and Coupling
AU - Lo, Chris K.Y.
AU - Pagell, Mark
AU - Fan, Di
AU - Wiengarten, Frank
AU - Yeung, Andy C. L.
N1 - Funding Information:
The work described in this paper was substantially supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. PolyU, 5452/11H).
PY - 2014/7
Y1 - 2014/7
N2 - Today, manufacturing firms encounter pressure from multiple stakeholders to manage occupational health and safety issues properly, systematically and transparently. While manufacturing firms commonly use internally developed Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, there is growing pressure to adopt externally certified system such as OHSAS 18001. However, there are conflicting views and little empirical evidence that examines the linkage between OHSAS 18001 certification and operating performance. Hence, this paper examines the impact of OHSAS 18001 on operational performance through three theoretical lenses: Institutional Theory, Normal Accident Theory, and High Reliability Theory. We also investigate how complexity and coupling moderate the relationship between OHSAS 18001 and operational performance. Based on a sample of 211 U.S. listed manufacturing firms with OHSAS 18001 certification, we find that certification leads to significant increases in abnormal performance on safety, sales growth, labor productivity, and profitability and that these benefits increase as complexity and coupling increase.
AB - Today, manufacturing firms encounter pressure from multiple stakeholders to manage occupational health and safety issues properly, systematically and transparently. While manufacturing firms commonly use internally developed Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, there is growing pressure to adopt externally certified system such as OHSAS 18001. However, there are conflicting views and little empirical evidence that examines the linkage between OHSAS 18001 certification and operating performance. Hence, this paper examines the impact of OHSAS 18001 on operational performance through three theoretical lenses: Institutional Theory, Normal Accident Theory, and High Reliability Theory. We also investigate how complexity and coupling moderate the relationship between OHSAS 18001 and operational performance. Based on a sample of 211 U.S. listed manufacturing firms with OHSAS 18001 certification, we find that certification leads to significant increases in abnormal performance on safety, sales growth, labor productivity, and profitability and that these benefits increase as complexity and coupling increase.
KW - Contextual factors
KW - Event study
KW - Occupational health and safety
KW - OHSAS 18001
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84901924088&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jom.2014.04.004
DO - 10.1016/j.jom.2014.04.004
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:84901924088
SN - 0272-6963
VL - 32
SP - 268
EP - 280
JO - Journal of Operations Management
JF - Journal of Operations Management
IS - 5
ER -