Monitoring of Standard Enactment for Exploration and Exploitation
In this chapter, Sarah Langer and Andrea Fried reflect on the relationship between standards and innovation. They observe how studies of the relationship between standards and innovation show contradictory results; standards can both enable and constrain innovation. There are several reviews that deal with the question of the standard–innovation nexus and come to the same conclusion that the results are not satisfactory thus far. By identifying reflexive, diagnostic, self-monitoring, and inadequate ways of monitoring standard enactment, the standard–innovation nexus can be explained in a novel way. The authors suggest that the way in which organizations monitor deviations from standards influences whether their organizational processes are explorative or exploitative in nature. The chapter concludes with propositions for further research.