TY  - JOUR
AB  - Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether International Organisation for Standards (ISO) certification affects consumer perceptions of the service provider.Design/methodology/approach– Data from a questionnaire survey of 204 Spanish consumers of insurance services is used to investigate whether differences exist in consumer perceptions of the services provided by ISO 9000‐certified firms and non‐certified firms in terms of: quality; satisfaction; and corporate image. Mean and covariance structure analysis (MACS) is employed to provide reliable analysis of any differences detected.Findings– The paper finds that ISO certification improves consumers' perceptions with regard to all three variables (quality, satisfaction, and corporate image). This was especially the case with respect to perceived service quality and perceived corporate image. The results therefore suggest that ISO 9000 certification enables companies to realise marketing benefits as a result of enhanced evaluation of service by consumers.Research limitations/implications– An acknowledged limitation of the study is the high variability of the effect size estimates for the three variables. Future studies should use larger samples to reduce such variability.Originality/value– The paper shows that previous studies of the ISO 9000 standards have tended to focus on management and expert opinion rather than the opinion of customers. The present study addresses this deficiency in the extant literature by seeking the perspective of the customer, which is of critical importance in assessments of quality and marketing benefits.
VL  - 19
IS  - 2
SN  - 0960-4529
DO  - 10.1108/09604520910943152
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/09604520910943152
AU  - Martínez Caro Laura
AU  - Martínez García Jose Antonio
PY  - 2009
Y1  - 2009/01/01
TI  - Does ISO 9000 certification affect consumer perceptions of the service provider?
T2  - Managing Service Quality: An International Journal
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 140
EP  - 161
Y2  - 2024/04/25
ER  -