Efectos de la Gestión de Calidad Total en la transformación en la Innovación Tecnológica y Administrativa

Abstract

Total quality management (TQM) is a management philosophy that is widespread among many organizations all over the world. Accordingly, the practical implications of TQM on firms’ performance are receiving an increasing attention from both practitioners and researchers. This paper presents an empirical study which examines the relationships between the implementation of TQM and both the firms’ cultural predisposition to innovate and the actual innovation effort undertaken from an administrative and technical perspective. The innovation effort is measured in terms of the intensity and newness of the innovations adopted; and the innovative culture, together with the quality practices, is also considered as an antecedent of the former. The research resorts to the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence Model to conceptualise TQM in an attempt to provide empirical evidences referred to the main European standard. The findings indicate that TQM shows a strong predictive power against the innovative culture as well as a determinant role in the stimuli of both administrative and technical innovation. Therefore, the major implication of this study is that TQM is an appropriate resource to enhance organizational performance, particularly innovation.