IMPLEMENTING ISO 9001:2015 IN REGION IX LGUS: READINESS, RESOURCES, AND RESISTANCE IN PUBLIC SERVICE QUALITY SYSTEMS

Abstract

Local Government Units (LGUs) serve as the primary interface between government and citizens through high-frequency services such as licensing, civil registry, social welfare transactions, and local administrative clearances. In decentralized governance settings, service quality reforms are often uneven, shaped by variations in institutional capability and reform acceptance. This study assesses ISO 9001:2015 implementation conditions among major LGUs in the Zamboanga Peninsula (Region IX), Philippines, using a Readiness–Resources–Resistance (3R) implementation lens. During the study period, Zamboanga City was treated as the region’s only LGU actively initiating ISO 9001:2015 adoption, while other major LGUs remained in pre-adoption stages. A mixed-methods design integrated a structured survey of LGU personnel (n = 280) from Zamboanga City, Dipolog City, Dapitan City, Sindangan, Pagadian City, Molave, Tukuran, Ipil, Kabasalan, and Siay, complemented by key informant interviews/focus group discussions (n = 42) with administrators, planners, HR/training officers, and frontline process owners, and supported by documentary review of citizen charters and internal process tools. Results indicate that regional readiness for ISO-aligned QMS implementation is moderate (M = 3.14/5), but readiness is uneven: Zamboanga City shows higher readiness (M = 3.76) and resource adequacy (M = 3.47) and lower resistance (M = 2.62), whereas pre-adoption LGUs exhibit moderate readiness (M = 2.99), constrained by weak competency development (M = 2.72) and monitoring and evaluation routines (M = 2.65), alongside moderate-to-high resistance (M = 3.22) driven by perceived paperwork burden and reform fatigue. The study proposes a staged 3R pathway emphasizing capability-building, realistic resourcing, and change management to translate ISO adoption from documentation compliance to continuous service improvement (Andrews et al., 2017; ISO, 2015; Kotter, 1996).