There are approximately 1,000,000 ISO 9001 certified companies worldwide. Every year, one third of these companies must decide whether to renew, or not, their certificate. The number of companies that abandon or lose the certificate has been growing and reached an average of 60,000 per year. Considering that there is currently no theory or model to explain this propensity of firms to decertify (18%), the aim of this study is to identify the underlying factors influencing firm propensity for ISO 9001 withdrawal and to analyse the relationships between these factors. In order to achieve these aims, the research develops a structural equation model (PLS-SEM), from extant literature, and estimates the model with survey data from a sample of 221 ISO 9001 certified companies. Results show that the main antecedents to decertification propensity are barriers to the initial certification, (absence of) external certification benefits, decertification motivations, and expected performance after decertification. This is the first study to address decertification from a systemic and comprehensive perspective and to present a structural equation model of the phenomenon. The study makes an integrated contribution to explain decertification propensity with the help of novel research variables. Results suggest several contributions to theory, and practice, and contribute to clarify a major contradiction in the field.

全球大约有1,000,000家通过ISO 9001认证的公司。每年，这些公司中的三分之一必须决定是否续签其证书。放弃或丢失证书的公司数量一直在增长，平均每年达到60,000家。考虑到目前尚无理论或模型来解释企业取消认证的倾向（18％），因​​此本研究的目的是确定影响企业退出ISO 9001倾向的潜在因素，并分析这些因素之间的关系。为了实现这些目标，该研究根据现有文献开发了结构方程模型（PLS-SEM），并使用来自221个ISO 9001认证公司的样本中的调查数据对模型进行了估算。结果表明，取消认证倾向的主要前提是初始认证的障碍，（缺少）外部认证的好处，取消认证的动机以及取消认证后的预期性能。这是从系统和全面的角度解决取消认证并提出该现象的结构方程模型的第一项研究。该研究借助新颖的研究变量，为解释取消认证的倾向做出了综合性贡献。结果表明了对理论和实践的一些贡献，并有助于阐明该领域的主要矛盾。这是从系统和全面的角度解决取消认证并提出该现象的结构方程模型的第一项研究。该研究借助新颖的研究变量，为解释取消认证的倾向做出了综合性贡献。结果表明了对理论和实践的一些贡献，并有助于阐明该领域的主要矛盾。这是从系统和全面的角度解决取消认证并提出该现象的结构方程模型的第一项研究。该研究借助新颖的研究变量，为解释取消认证的倾向做出了综合性贡献。结果表明了对理论和实践的一些贡献，并有助于阐明该领域的主要矛盾。