Global Governance for Global Goals: Private Market Standardization via the UN Global Compact and ISO 9001 Diffusion

Firms contribute to global governance and may influence global goals through private market standardization. Public-private partnerships and institutions formalize how such standardization, as a mode of the rule of law, underpins global value chains within and across borders. Local socio-political, -economic, and -environmental contexts provide the milieu for how firms digest global governance initiatives and why they pursue global goals, even at a cost. The presence and perception of public risks and corruption, including the manipulation of public-private partnerships for corrupt distribution of public goods and lack of accountability in enforcement mechanisms, directly link the causal pathway between firms and development outcomes. Using a refined data aggregation process to visualize the diffusion of firm participation in the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and ISO 9001 certifications, this research offers initial insight into the capability of global governance institutions to mediate corruption's effect on the human development index. Through a multi-stage system of equations, this research models an interconnected institutional design theory of global governance where firms signal their extrinsic motivations for sustainable development to their stakeholders. While firm participation in the UNGC is cheaper and has a less formal accountability mechanism than a firm's ISO certification, the UNGC’s positive declaration of explicitly defined global goals is a differentiating factor in its institutional design. Diffusion of ISO 9001 sites undergoing third-party, certified, conformity assessments have more rigid compliance monitoring and tangible consequences for a firm's license to do business in the global supply chain. However, since ISO 9001 is non-normative and instead emphasizes risk mitigation and process controls, ISO diffusion may correlate with improved human development rights overall but not as a mediator for corruption. This research represents the first steps of a research agenda to illustrate and evaluate the network effects of global governance on global goals, and this has implications for the institutional design of private market standardization efforts that advance sustainable development in postcolonial contexts.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Cardone Da Costa, Rebecca Ann 1990-

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Chatagnier, Tyson
• Tiede, Lydia

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Pinto, Pablo
• Jensen, Nathan M.

• Global governance
• Human rights
• Sustainable development
• Management system
• International standards
• Conformity assessment
• Institutions
• Global value chains

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/21585

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/21585