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Researchers and standardisation bodies are key to accelerating societal transition and contributing to society’s demands for sustainability, resilience and digitalisation. Standards are the agreed-upon best practices published by national or international bodies and are key enablers of transformation. Scholars have not yet identified a relationship between standards and facilities management (FM) research. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of formal standards in FM research.

A literature review was conducted to identify journal articles addressing standards and FM. A total of 198 journal articles published from 2010 to 2021 were identified. After screening these articles, 27 journal articles were considered the most relevant for data analysis.

The findings show that the role of standards in research can be analysed thematically, categorically, textually, methodologically and directionally. Standards are relevant to research by defining terms, creating backgrounds, guiding research, supporting the development of new standards and encouraging more collaboration between research and standardisation. Some studies have shown how standards influence research, but only a few have explored how research influences standards.

This research provides examples that inspire stronger collaboration between people and processes in research and standardisation.

The articles collected and analysed in this study comprise original research. A limited preliminary study of ten core articles was presented at the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction World Congress 2022. This presentation of this work provides an expanded framework for analysing the roles of standards in research. This framework includes (1) categorical analysis of research and standardisation streams; (2) thematic analysis of the topic of interest; (3) textual analysis of the use of the term “standard”; (4) methodological analysis of the influence of standards on the research method; and (5) directional analysis of the intended audience.

This chapter considers the current standards that exist for the conduct of research and whether these standards are being met. Issues of scope and terminology are discussed and debated. Also considered are the reasons and benefits to the Academy of Social Sciences and other professional and disciplinary bodies by being involved in developing generic ethics principles in social science research.

This work aims to present existing management system standards (MSSs) published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) through a bibliometric analysis, thereby outlining their academic research status and highlighting their relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as to environmental, social and governance (ESG) themes.

The study firstly retrieves a preliminary set of MSSs standards from ISO and filters it in accordance with certain exclusion/inclusion criteria. Secondly, a bibliometric search is performed in the database Scopus. Thirdly, performance analysis is conducted to quantitatively measure the scientific output in academia, and science mapping of co-occurrences of keywords is applied to identify related topics. Thereby, the standards’ relationships to sustainability are outlined. Eventually, the work discusses future research opportunities.

The findings reveal that whereas research on MSSs focuses predominantly on only a few standards by now, there are actually numerous further standards that address sustainability-relevant topics, which are getting increasing attention among scholars as measured by the number of publications. Therefore, an action plan for future research is derived. Moreover, the findings support the argument of integrating MSSs to cover a broad range of corporate sustainability issues.

The paper connects the concepts of MSSs and sustainability, an upcoming research branch yet characterized by shortage of academic studies (given that research continues to focus on a few standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001). The work therefore opens up the line for more in-detail research on less known but nevertheless sustainability-relevant ISO MSSs.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the collaboration between researchers and practitioners on developing standards and guidelines for Facilities Management (FM).

This paper is based on a longitudinal case study on research on FM value adding and its impact on FM standardization and development of a FM Value Guide. The sources used are literature and documents on FM value adding and standardization, published and planned FM standards, the FM Value Guide, internal documents and participant observations and experiences. All authors of this paper have both research and practical background. Two of them have been – and one still is – actively involved in developing European and international FM standards, and all three have been involved in developing the FM Value Guide. The research methodology can be characterized as retrospective action research.

The literature review shows that even though there are many references to standards in research papers, particularly in relation to definitions of concepts, there are only few studies on how research influences standardization and how researchers collaborate with practitioners on developing standards and guidelines. This paper presents a case study showing how research can contribute to standardization and development of guidelines in collaboration with practitioners and makes suggestions on how such collaboration can be improved.

The results of this paper provide understanding and inspiration for how researchers and practitioners can collaborate in the development of standards and guidelines.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first study on collaboration between researchers and practitioners on developing FM standards and guidelines.

The purpose of this study is to propose a framework for developing standards for knowledge management education programs from primary through tertiary levels. The lack of standards for knowledge management education is a significant challenge for the advancement of the field, for the sustainability of institutional programs, the future competencies of knowledge workers and the effective growth of knowledge organizations.

The research adopts and adapts the framework and methodology used to establish educational standards in computer science. The framework is presented as a focal point for discussion across the profession. Nine strands are derived from historical treatment of the discipline. Seven levels of learning are identified. Learning goals and objectives are developed for each level.

The research suggests that a lifelong learning model is definable for the field of knowledge management, just as it has been for other disciplines. The progressive learning model may produce high school graduates who are better prepared for knowledge work, a larger population of knowledge practitioners and professionals prepared to support and lead knowledge organizations and increased quantities and improved quality of knowledge management research. Finally, the progressive learning model may generate a new and increased demand for lifelong learning opportunities in the field of knowledge management.

The research is intended as a focal point for discussion and review by knowledge management professionals and particularly educators around the globe. The research represents an important stage of development, but adoption is the final stage of this research.

While this research draws upon established theories and practices in the field, and learning frameworks from other domains, the context and the research results are unique.

The authors of this study, who adopted a holistic view of the international organization for standardization (ISO) 9000 series of standards, aimed to evaluate the current status of the standards within the framework of the quality movement. Specifically, the evaluation covered two dimensions, i.e. the significance of the content included in the standards and the quality of the standards’ elaboration, which encompasses such issues as, for instance, their correctness, relevance to current trends in quality management, comprehensibility, etc.

The paper is based on a review of the scientific literature, analysis of the current and all previous versions of the international standards and the results of a survey, through which data were collected from 73 quality management experts from 17 different countries. To evaluate the results, an importance-performance analysis was performed.

As the results of the research demonstrated, experts in quality management have accepted the ISO 9000 standards series. However, this positive view refers mainly to the very idea of developing quality management standards and these standard’s content structure (components included in them). Study participants assigned a low rating to the quality of the standards’ elaboration. Therefore, improving the following aspects of the standards is essential: definitions, guidelines explaining the requirements for a quality management system, self-assessment tools and guidelines concerning quality management concerning chosen forms of activity.

The research described here in has both practical and social implications. First, it delineates the direction needed to improve standardizations, whose use need not be strictly limited to quality management but can be successfully used to improve the standards in other areas of management. Therefore, the conclusions of this research directly contribute to increasing both the effectiveness and the quality of the standard organizations. The significant consequences of this research for managers are the identification of ISO 9000 components which they will find are the most useful.

The research described herein has both practical and social implications. First, it delineates the direction needed to improve standardizations, whose use need not be strictly limited to quality management. However, it can be successfully used to improve the standards in other areas of management. Therefore, the conclusions of this research directly contribute to increasing both the effectiveness and the quality of the standard organizations. The significant consequences of this research for managers are the identification of ISO 9000 components, which they will find are the most useful.

Most research treats ISO 9000 standards as a benchmark for their studies on quality management systems implemented in organizations. The standards themselves are rarely the subject of a study, and so this paper fills a gap in the research and provides insights into desired directions for standards improvement.

This study aims to identify causes of (un)ethical behaviour in research and how they influence adherence to research ethics.

The authors developed and tested a conceptual model that includes mediation and helps to understand the mechanism of adherence to ethical standards of research based on the “social judgment theory” (SJT). In Study 1, the authors conducted an exploratory study using the exploratory factor analysis technique to identify factors responsible for adherence to research ethics. In Study 2, the authors used SJT to provide support for establishing a relationship between key variables.

Two factors, “Proclivity to Egoism” and “Proclivity to Emotivism”, were identified based on the personal beliefs of researchers. These factors were found to play an important role in determining the tendency towards adherence to standards of research ethics (Belmont Report and COPE). SJT successfully explains the mechanism of adoption of ethical standards. Adherence to Belmont principles was seen to mediate relationship between factors identified and tendency to adhere to COPE.

Majorly, this study is unique as it establishes and guides to incorporate researchers’ point of view in formulating ethical standards and guidelines, apart, from various other important theoretical and societal implications.

This commissioned paper reviews literature outlining reasons for a perceived gap between academics and standard setters as policy makers. The aim of this paper is to emphasise how academics and standard setters can collaborate on accounting and audit research and assist standard setters to act in the public interest.

The approach is primarily a literature and document review of relevant issues, summarising New Zealand’s standard setting arrangements, providing examples of successful policy-changing research, and making recommendations on future research topics.

Despite the long-held views of a gap between academic researchers and standard setters, increasingly standard setters utilise research and request input from academics in their deliberations. Standard setters can increase the likelihood of relevant research by promoting critical issues for research and connecting their practitioner networks with academics. Academics can bridge the gap by selecting topics of mutual interest and by communicating their findings extensively and well.

Increasing collaboration should lead to better accounting and audit standards.

This paper highlights matters of concern in the New Zealand standard setting environment where there is a strategic objective to undertake research.

The perception of consumers towards the products or services that are provided by organisations that are certified to various international quality management and allied standards, such as the standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization, has not been extensively researched. Available research is limited to few standards. It is not comprehensively explored if consumers view certified products, services or organisations favourably in each case. This study aims to explore inclination of three consumer categories i.e. retail consumers, business consumers and subject expert consumers towards 11 international management system standards.

A survey is carried out among 229 consumers of different types in different countries. Total 11 quality management and allied standards are studied. Similarities and differences among different consumer groups towards these 11 standards are analysed using Chi-square test.

The study shows that although all consumer categories perceive products, services, and organisations certified to international management system standards favourably, the inclination towards certification is greater among developing economies than in developed economies. It is also proven that all standards are not equally popular among consumers. The brand name of a certification agency is found not influencing consumer’s preference towards certification.

The study is unique in three ways. First, it comprehensively analyses multiple quality management and allied standards from consumers’ point of view. Similarities and differences among retail consumers, business consumers and subject experts are researched, which was not attempted previously and thus it shows a novel approach. Second, no other study has analysed so many standards together. Third, differences in perception of consumers towards international standards between developing and developed nations are compared, which was not available earlier for all the 11 standards.