Management system certification signals that the organization meets international standards, which provides a certain confidence in the company. This confidence is in particular needed for exporting companies in developing countries. Because the business world is dominated by men, female leadership might be another reason to have less confidence in a company. Women-led companies may therefore benefit more from certification. Therefore, this study empirically tests the impact of certification on export, and the moderating effect of female leadership. We use data from enterprise surveys conducted by the World Bank in 2013 that include 4111 firms from 25 Central and Eastern European countries in transition. We implement a recursive bivariate probit model and an extensive sensitivity analysis to account for endogeneity issues. Results confirm that certification and export are positively correlated. Firms managed by females benefit more from certification based on international standards than firms managed by men, especially in the service sector. This suggests that certification compensates for the possibly negative connotations of female leadership. Female managers may consider implementing a management system and get it certified, resulting in a competitive advantage in export markets. Our findings provide food for thought for purchase managers–are they free from prejudice?.

This book examines education about standardisation in the context of sustainable management. It shows the role of standardisation education in the global economy, and in markets, industries and businesses. The book presents knowledge on standardisation for sustainable management, describes measures that can be taken to stimulate it, and highlights strategies for teaching and disseminating the concept. Subsequently presenting a number of best practices and case studies, the book seeks to align theory and practice. For researchers, this is the first academic publication that interconnects the concepts of sustainability, standardisation and education. For professionals in the area of sustainability it shows that standardisation is an essential instrument for enhancing sustainability for which proper education is needed. For standardisation professionals the book reveals the links to sustainability and it shows not only the importance of education about standardisation but also how this can be organised, and finally, for universities, the book shows that standardisation deserves to be included in the curriculum, and it provides guidance and best practice examples about how this can be done.