Exegesis of ISO 37000: Towards Integrated Governance

Purpose: The objective of this article is to determine whether the ISO 37000 standard defends the principles of mainstream governance (i.e., shareholder capitalism) or whether it adopts a new posture. While theorizing about governance remains close to neoliberal capitalism and shareholder primacy, we wonder whether, unlike research, recent international standards have managed to emancipate from it. Design/methodology/approach: To this end, after a synthetic literature review, we conduct two empirical studies based on the method of textual data analysis. A lexicometric analysis and a factorial analysis of correspondences, carried out with the help of the Iramuteq software, allow us to analyze the content of the ISO 37000. Findings: The essential contributions of the ISO 37000 standard are (1) the interweaving of principles and processes already known in the literature, (2) the purpose of the organization as the common thread of governance, and (3) the integrated approach to governance. ISO 37000 incorporates intra- and extra-organizational interactions, revisits power relations from a democratic perspective (thanks to accountability and stakeholder engagement) and proposes that governance focuses on value creation and respect of social and natural environments. Originality: The originality of this article comes from the used framework (ISO 37000, never studied before). Moreover, we want to study its contribution to the concept of governance in all private organizations (including nonprofit organizations). Research limitations/implications: Several contributions to the academic literature are highlighted, leading to the formulation of research avenues: improve the theorization of integrated governance and its links with an organizational social responsibility that would no longer be a façade and investigate the gaps created by the standard in comparison with the for-profit (e.g., leadership) and non-profit (e.g., democratic ideal, ethical dilemmas related to the lack of resources) French literature. The limitations are essentially methodological due to the underlying principles of lexicometrics. Practical implications: Propositions to be taken into account by ISO during future revisions of the standard are set out, as its current architecture and definition of governance do not sufficiently reflect the originality of its approach, which advocates a resolutely integrated vision of governance. In addition, if organizations follow the guidelines proposed by ISO 37000, they will have a more effective performance and will develop an ethical behavior. This is the first governance standard that considers that the ultimate outcome of governance is both sustainability and ethical performance. Social implications: In essence, ISO 37000 postulates that the governance of organizations will either be sustainable or will not be.