Paper Title
Formalization and business performance: Is operational performance a relevant link?
Abstract
There is no consensus in the organizational literature about the relationship between formalization and firm
performance. Some studies have suggested that formalization is beneficial for organization performance, but others have
generated contradictory results. In this research, we try to analyze the relationships between formalization, operational
performance, and business performance. To test these hypotheses, the structural equation technique was used on data from a
survey carried out on organic agro-food Spanish industrial firms. The results obtained show that operational performance
fully mediates the relationship between formalization and business performance. Our findings contribute to the
organizational literature, providing theoretical and empirical explanations of formalization implications.
Keywords - Business Performance, Formalization, Operational Performance, Organic Agro-Food Industry.