Empirical evidence about managerial issues of ISO certification

Nowadays, there are a growing number of companies that for a variety of reasons seek the ISO 9000 certificate in order to continue being competitive. This certification process provokes certain changes in company organisation which affect diverse functional areas. The article presents the results obtained from a study of a set of certified companies in a specific geographical area, and in which an attempt is made to test diverse hypotheses related to the influence of this process of certification with respect to human resources and the post‐certification process. The study was able to count upon the collaboration of more than 50 per cent of the certified companies under consideration.