| Internal |
| Process |
| Onerous certification maintenance (25) | ISO 9001: Lo and Chang (2007), Franceschini et al. (2010), Franceschini et al. (2011), Gianni and Gotzamani (2015), Kafel and Simon (2017), Simon and Kafel (2018), Chiarini (2019), Zimon and Dellana (2019), Ferreira and Cândido (2021), Cândido and Ferreira (2023), Cândido (2023) |
| ISO 14001: Mariotti et al. (2014), Mosgaard and Kristensen (2020) |
| ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: Alič (2012), Kafel and Nowicki (2014) |
| EMAS: Von Ahsen et al. (2004), Bonilla-Priego et al. (2011), Neugebauer (2012), Preziosi et al. (2016), Daddi et al. (2018), Merli et al. (2018) |
| SA 8000: Podrecca et al. (2021), Marcuzzi et al. (2023) |
| B Corp: Moroz and Gamble (2021), Xiang et al. (2024) |
| Lack of operational improvements (10) | ISO 9001: Lo and Chang (2007), Franceschini et al. (2011), Simon and Kafel (2018), Zimon and Dellana (2019), Cândido and Ferreira (2023) |
| ISO 14001: Mosgaard and Kristensen (2020) |
| ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: Alič (2012), Kafel and Nowicki (2014) |
| EMAS: Von Ahsen et al. (2004) |
| SA 8000: Podrecca et al. (2021) |
| Requirements assimilation (7) | ISO 9001: Kafel and Simon (2017), Simon and Kafel (2018), Cândido and Ferreira (2023), Cândido (2023) |
| ISO 14001: Mosgaard and Kristensen (2020) |
| ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: Marimon et al. (2009) |
| EMAS: Merli and Preziosi (2018) |
| Unmeasurable operational impact (2) | ISO 9001: Gianni and Gotzamani (2015), Chiarini (2019) |
| People |
| Uncommitted managers (10) | ISO 9001: Gianni and Gotzamani (2015), Kafel and Simon (2017), Simon and Kafel (2018), Chiarini (2019), Zimon and Dellana (2019) |
| ISO 14001: Mosgaard and Kristensen (2020) |
| EMAS: Bonilla-Priego et al. (2011), Merli et al. (2018) |
| SA 8000: Marcuzzi et al. (2023) |
| B Corp: Conger et al. (2018) |
| Limited staff engagement (4) | ISO 9001: Zimon and Dellana (2019) |
| ISO 14001: Mosgaard and Kristensen (2020) |
| SA 8000: Podrecca et al. (2021), Marcuzzi et al. (2023) |
| Other |
| Company reorganization (6) | ISO 9001: Kafel and Simon (2017), Simon and Kafel (2018) |
| ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: Alič (2012), Kafel and Nowicki (2014) |
| EMAS: Bonilla-Priego et al. (2011) |
| B Corp: Moroz and Gamble (2021) |
| External |
| Market |
| Lack of business benefits and commercial advantages (23) | ISO 9001: Lo and Chang (2007), Casadesús et al. (2008), Franceschini et al. (2010), Kafel and Simon (2017), Simon and Kafel (2018), Chiarini (2019), Ferreira and Cândido (2021), Cândido and Ferreira (2023), Cândido (2023) |
| ISO 14001: Hikichi et al. (2017b), Mosgaard and Kristensen (2020) |
| ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: Marimon et al. (2009), Alič (2012), Kafel and Nowicki (2014) |
| EMAS: Von Ahsen et al. (2004), Bonilla-Priego et al. (2011), Preziosi et al. (2016), Daddi et al. (2018), Merli et al. (2018) |
| SA 8000: Podrecca et al. (2021), Marcuzzi et al. (2023) |
| B Corp: Moroz and Gamble (2021), Xiang et al. (2024) |
| Interruption of commercial ties (3) | ISO 9001: Simon and Kafel (2018), Cândido (2023) |
| SA 8000: Marcuzzi et al. (2023) |
| Policy and Certification Body |
| Competing IMSs/initiatives with a different sphere of influence (15) | ISO 9001: Simon and Kafel (2018), Zimon and Dellana (2019), Ferreira and Cândido (2021), Cândido and Ferreira (2023), Cândido (2023) |
| ISO 14001: Neugebauer (2012), Mosgaard and Kristensen (2020) |
| ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: Marimon et al. (2009) |
| EMAS: Von Ahsen et al. (2004), Bonilla-Priego et al. (2011), Neugebauer (2012), Preziosi et al. (2016), Merli and Preziosi (2018) |
| SA 8000: Marcuzzi et al. (2023) |
| B Corp: Moroz and Gamble (2021), Xiang et al. (2024) |
| Law and regulation challenges (14) | ISO 9001: Casadesús et al. (2008) |
| ISO 9001 and ISO 14001: Marimon et al. (2009), Kafel and Nowicki (2014) |
| EMAS: Von Ahsen et al. (2004), Bonilla-Priego et al. (2011), Neugebauer (2012), Heras-Saizarbitoria et al. (2016), Preziosi et al. (2016), Daddi et al. (2018), Merli et al. (2018) |
| SA 8000: Marcuzzi et al. (2023) |
| B Corp: Moroz and Gamble (2021), Kim and Schifeling (2022), Xiang et al. (2024) |
| Audit or certifying/regulatory body-related complications (4) | ISO 9001: Cândido (2023) |
| SA 8000: Podrecca et al. (2021), Marcuzzi et al. (2023) |
| B Corp: Moroz and Gamble (2021) |
| Other |
| Mimicking behavior (2) | ISO 9001: Clougherty and Grajek (2023) |
| SA 8000: Marcuzzi et al. (2023) |