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Using official longitudinal industrial microdata, we test hypotheses generated by this assumed motive for self-regulation and find that (a) despite concerns about the corruptibility of certification bodies, SA8000 adopters in China exhibited higher precertification worker wages than comparable nonadopters, (b) self-regulation led to increased employment and sales to foreign markets, where reputation-sensitive buyers are concentrated, (c) the positive effect on exports was greater than the (insignificant, negatively signed) effect on domestic sales, and (d) there is no evidence that self-regulation increased worker wages beyond the initial high start. Contrasting these findings with prior research on industry self-regulation for other motives, this study highlights how both adoption patterns and downstream effects differ according to the audience for self-regulation. <\/jats:p><jats:p> This paper was accepted by Olav Sorenson, organizations. <\/jats:p><jats:p> Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1287\/mnsc.2020.01306 . <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.2020.01306","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,11,25]],"date-time":"2024-11-25T09:38:47Z","timestamp":1732527527000},"page":"6925-6942","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Self-Regulation for Reputation-Sensitive Buyers: SA8000 in China"],"prefix":"10.1287","volume":"71","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3623-7953","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Greg","family":"Distelhorst","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources and Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2E8, Canada"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1142-9315","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Judith C.","family":"Stroehle","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of St. Gallen, CH-9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland"}]},{"given":"Duanyi","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853"}]}],"member":"109","reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5465\/amj.2008.35732609"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1561\/100.00013076"},{"issue":"3","key":"B3","first-page":"433","volume":"31","author":"Bartley T","year":"2003","journal-title":"Political Soc."},{"key":"B87","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bartley T (2005) Corporate accountability and the privatization of labor standards: Struggles over codes of conduct in the apparel industry. 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