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Given the rapid recent growth in ISO 9000 applications and the business performance benefits being claimed for it by National Accreditation Registrars, it is timely to review the research in this area to see if any substantial proof exists for these claims. The paper explores the literature and finds that there is no proven link between quality certification (ISO 9000) and improved business performance. However, it is clear from the research reviewed on business performance factors, that better quality does have a consistent, positive relationship with business performance. Combining these findings leads to the inference that quality certification to ISO 9000 standards is not consistently associated with having a quality assurance system that delivers improved process control, or better quality. We conclude that the National Accreditation Registrars need to reflect on the standards of proof that they currently use to support claims for business performance improvement from the application of the ISO 9000 standards.

Accreditation to the ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems Standard has proven to be a persistent and growing phenomenon in services and manufacturing, yet to date little attempt has been made to explore how performance results in cross‐sectional research may be attributed to different causation mechanisms and how their influences may alter over time. This paper aims to fill this gap.

The paper defines four possible causation mechanisms before searching and analysing the empirical literature on quality management system certification to ISO 9001 and business performance for evidence of their causal influence.

From the analyses, it is found that the benefit that can safely be attributed to the treatment‐effect of ISO 9001 accreditation is lower waste; while the benefits of lower costs and better quality are less likely unless motives for adoption are developmental rather than externally driven. From an analysis of longitudinal studies a strong selection‐mechanism is found where more profitable firms have a greater propensity to adopt than less profitable firms. From the finding propositions are developed to show how the influence of these mechanisms change over time.

The existence of the selection‐mechanism has profound implications for interpreting business performance achievements because the benefits that are attributed to the treatment‐effect from adopting quality management system standards are likely to be greatly inflated by the influence of the selection‐mechanism. The author suggests that richer theory is needed that can incorporate bi‐directional influences and new research is needed to explore the underlying causes of the selection effect.

The paper is believed to be the first to systematically explore attribution of performance in the ISO 9001 literature. Its findings provide new insights into the complexities of attribution of performance in studies of new practices and systems.

The adoption of the ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems Standard has proven to be a persistent and growing phenomenon in services and manufacturing, yet to date little research has been done that can indicate how far improved business performance can be attributed to it rather than counter‐intuitive causes. The paper aims to examine the evidence for the causal links between quality management system certification and improved performance in the empirical literature.

A method is proposed for testing how far performance improvement can be attributed to quality management system certification and how far attribution to other causes applies. This method is illustrated on a longitudinal study and then utilised to interpret the findings of other longitudinal studies.

It is concluded that although there is some evidence to indicate that quality management system certification has some causal influence on business performance, there is also evidence for the existence of a substantial mechanism whereby better performing firms self‐select to adopt certification. Possible causes for this mechanism are discussed.

The existence of a self‐select mechanism has profound implications for interpreting business performance achievements associated with quality management system certification because the benefits found may well be inflated by its presence. The authors suggest that richer theory is needed that can incorporate bi‐directional influences and new research is needed to explore the underlying causes of adoption selection effects.

The paper provides researchers with a method for testing and discussing causation influences on results. It provides evidence that a substantial part of the association found in the research on quality management system certification and business benefits may be due to counterintuitive causes.

Registrations to the ISO 9000 standard have grown rapidly in recent years with 343,643 certificates in 150 countries at the start of 2000, a growth of 71,769 on the previous year, of which 23,900 were in Europe. This suggests that there is a wide‐spread belief in the business benefits of ISO 9000 accreditation. However, failure to realise business performance improvement in practice could have a negative effect on the future credibility of quality certification and lead to ISO 9000 eventually becoming just another failed management panacea. Although there is much research describing implementation of ISO 9000 quality systems, there is little empirical research that examines whether ISO 9000 is linked to improvement in audited financial performance. This paper contributes to closing this gap in the literature by comparing the audited financial performance of 400 accredited and 400 non‐accredited Basque firms over a period of five years.

Although there is a plethora of research articles that study ISO 9000 quality management systems and their association with business success, there is little empirical research that can attribute causality to certification. Contributes to the question of causality, through a comparison against a control group of the actual sales and profitability of 400 certified companies pre and post registration. Using a longitudinal methodology finds that, although the performance of certified companies is superior to that of 400 non‐certified firms, there is no evidence of improved performance after registration in the 400 certified firms studied. Concludes, from these findings, that the superior performance of certified firms is due to firms with superior performance having a greater propensity to pursue ISO 9000 registration. Illustrates the potential dangers in inferring that ISO 9000 certification leads to superior business performance. Additionally the findings should give pause for thought for decision‐makers. Certification is a major investment yet the findings show that inflated expectations of performance improvement after ISO 9000 accreditation may be unfounded.

The purpose of this paper is to establish empirically whether there is any foundation in the premise that female officers' lesser tenure and/or lower levels of commitment than men explain their lack of career progress. Although the number of women in UK police forces has grown rapidly, it appears that they continue to be under‐represented in senior ranks.

Using whole population surveys of two county police forces in the UK the paper compares the promotion of men and women police officers controlling for tenure. The paper then compares the organisational commitment of male and female officers and analyses whether female officers experience managerial and organisational influences that undermine their organisational commitment compared to men.

The findings refute some of the widespread beliefs about reasons for female officers' lack of progress in their policing careers since the analysis indicates that gender differences in length of tenure and organisational commitment can be discounted as possible explanations for lack of advancement in these two police forces. Overall, the results clearly show that female officers are just as committed as male officers and thus cannot be justified as a reason for lack of career progression.

It is accepted that survey methods such as ours do not capture the entirety of employee feelings and responses since they tend to homogenise male and female working experiences. However, survey methods do have the advantage that it is possible to generalise from the results and thus these two studies allow us to suggest that our findings can be viewed as providing insights to other UK police forces.

The relatively low levels of organisational commitment found should be a cause for concern for senior managers in the Police. The key importance that management has in influencing organisational commitment has been shown by our findings and this indicates the importance of the current Police Leadership Development Board's agenda to improve workforce management skills to encourage transformational leadership styles.

The paper make an original contribution by refuting widely held assumptions about the reasons for under‐representation of female officers in senior ranks. It also contributes to the sparse literature that examines organisational commitment in the police and its antecedents.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate an area of growing importance that is widely recognised in the literature relating to the issue of how to improve ways that assessments and feedback are provided to students within higher education. This paper reports on a study that aimed to explore the views of both educators (n=70) and students (n=540) on feedback and feed-forward at a UK university. The study also investigated their experience and attitudes to social media applications as a means of enhancing access to feedback within the context of mobile learning.

The research approach adopted in this study predominately conforms to a quantitative research design though embeds elements of qualitative research via a “mixed methods” approach. The overall methodology of the paper adheres to an exploratory case study in a higher education environment to identify various issues and approaches that could be addressed or enhanced to aid ways that assessments and feedback are disseminated to students within higher education.

Participants’ views were sought in relation to students receiving learning materials, as well as feedback from tutors directly to their smartphones and mobile devices. In addition, the study explored possible reasons for students not wanting to use social media and mobile devices for their learning and feedback. Overall, the results indicated a positive attitude on the part of educators and students to using mobile devices and social media applications for teaching and learning purposes.

The case study presented in this paper draws on findings from one higher educational institution. Further research is required to determine the generalisability of the findings to allow comparison of the findings to be undertaken within other higher education institutions.

The originality of the paper is that it provides detailed empirical evidence and findings that provide several important implications in relation to enhancing the student learning experience and providing considerable improvements to the way that feedback is provided that make it more likely that students will take more notice to feedback and act upon it. This in turn enables educators to better plan and manage their teaching and student experience online and through students’ mobile devices. The value of this study is that it explores views of both educators and students, whereas many other previous studies tend to focus on the views of either educators or students.

Seeks to make a contribution to reviewing the position of policewomen by analysing the nature of attitudinal commitment and its possible gendered meanings and gendering effects. Using survey data, compares the different levels of commitment between men and women and considers if commitment is shaped by the same or different variables. Reviews the theoretical background to organisation commitment and gender and its relationship to police organisations. Then discusses the case data which reveals that there are few differences in the levels of men and women’s commitment, and that their commitment levels are shaped by the same managerial factors. Considers the implications for managing commitment and their relationship to equal opportunity developments within police forces. Concludes that the female police officer is committed to the force, but it is uncertain whether this is reciprocal.

The article examines the usage and relative importance of quality measurements in the UK’s largest service companies. The authors analyse the relationship of both internal and customer‐based quality measurements to the importance placed on accreditation to an ISO 9000 standard. The effect of process structure is explored by categorising the service firms as being in front‐room or back‐room dominant service sectors. The authors find that the service firms, which consider accreditation to be important, have a different emphasis on quality than other service firms do. Significantly, their emphasis shifts from one that is in line with their process structure to a more balanced one, where both internal and customer‐based quality measurements receive similar attention. This leads them to conclude that accreditation to an ISO 9000 standard can make a profound difference to the way quality is perceived and measured in large service firms.

There have been few studies that have explored commitment among police officers in the UK. Our research aims to fill a gap in the police commitment literature. Using survey data (100 per cent population = 3,828) the paper analyses the extent to which organisational commitment is shaped by: employees’ experiences of the level of management support, organisation support and performance appraisal. The commitment measure we use is derived from the real life HR concerns of the participating police organisation ForceCo. Results show that these factors strongly influence commitment at all ranks. Key new findings reveal that the level of commitment varies according to position in the hierarchy, and police commitment increases with tenure. The paper discusses the limitations in management style and personnel procedures and suggests ForceCo needs to re‐evaluate existing systems.