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The “United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal” 9 seeks to “… foster innovation” in all sectors of an economy. Thus, this conceptual piece addresses the indirect effect of innovative behaviour (INB) between total quality management (TQM) and innovation performance (INP). It further explores the context-contingent effect of four external factors [government regulation (GOV), market dynamism (MKD), competitive intensity (CMP) and technological turbulence (TUR)] on the TQM–INB linkage.

By incorporating both theoretical and empirical works in the fields of strategic management, innovation and business performance, this conceptual piece constructs a conceptual model, using a systematic literature review, alongside suppositions that can be tested in further studies.

This conceptual piece puts forward that TQM will be favourably connected to INP, and this favourable association will be mediated by INB. Moreover, GOV, MKD, CMP and TUR will have a favourable context-contingent effect on the favourable direct connection between TQM and INB.

This conceptual piece affords suggestions for both practitioners and researchers alike in the areas of innovative and strategic decision-making in banking establishments for reinforcing INP by introducing TQM, INB, GOV, MKD, CMP and TUR as innovative-strategic tools. It also delivers suggestions for forthcoming academics to examine this conceptual piece, empirically, in diverse banking sites worldwide.

Practical lessons for managers, employees, customers and consultants within the banking sector for the superior advantage of all key stakeholders are deliberated.

This study provides a new model to demonstrate how TQM leads to INP by passing through INB of employees, and how TQM fosters INB under diverse degrees of GOV, MKD, CMP and TUR. It shows how internal factors (7 TQM dimensions) and external factors (GOV, MKD, CMP and TUR) interact to foster employee INB. It also underscores the theoretical authority of three theories utilised, both individually and in combination, by using them to explain new relationships.

This article examines the direct effect of total quality management (TQM) practices on organizational performance (OP) and innovation (INN), as well as their indirect effect through organizational learning (OL) as a mediating variable. In addition, this survey examines company size as a contextual variable in the relationship between TQM and outcome variables.

A conceptual framework is proposed to test causal links between TQM, OP, INN and OL. To empirically test this framework, 110 questionnaires were collected from large Tunisian quality-certified industries, and 167 questionnaires were collected from small and medium-sized industries (SMIs) in order to examine the effect of company size. In this order, a multigroup analysis (MGA) is performed.

Using the structural equation modeling technique, seven hypotheses are investigated. The results reveal that TQM has a direct and significant positive effect on OP and INN. Data analysis shows that there is a significant positive effect between TQM and OL, while OL positively influences OP and INN. Furthermore, the results illustrate a mediating effect of OL between TQM and OP and INN. The results reveal that large industries and SMIs show significant differences in the relationship, including the conceptual model.

The conceptual framework can be used by practitioners for effective implementation of TQM practices to simultaneously improve operational performance, quality performance and INN. This study also focuses on the role of OL in large-scale industries.

While the relationships between TQM, INN and OP have been examined separately in previous studies, this study examines the relationship between these variables in a unique model in Tunisian industries, including OL as a mediating variable. In addition, it is one of the few studies that considers firm size as a contextual variable and provides an analysis of its effect on the relationships between these variables. This study presents new data and empirical insights into the relationship between these variables.

Quality 4.0 is being presented as the new stage of quality development. However, its overlying concept and rationale are still hard to define. To better understand what different authors and studies advocate being Quality 4.0, a systematic literature review was undertaken on the topic. This paper presents the results of such review, providing some avenues for further research on quality management.

The documents for the systematic literature review have been searched on the Scopus database, using the search equation: [TITLE-ABS-KEY (“Quality 4.0”) OR TITLE-ABS-KEY (Quality Management” AND (“Industry 4.0” OR “Fourth Industr*” OR i4.0))]. Documents were filtered by language and by type. Of the 367 documents identified, 146 were submitted to exploratory content analysis.

The analyzed documents essentially provide theoretical discussions on what Quality 4.0 is or should be. Five categories have emerged from the content analysis undertaken: Industry 4.0 and the Rise of a New Approach to Quality; Motivations, Readiness Factors and Barriers to a Quality 4.0 Approach; Digital Quality Management Systems; Combination of Quality Tools and Lean Methodologies and Quality 4.0 Professionals.

It was hard to find studies reporting how quality is actually being managed in organizations that already operate in the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Answers could not be found to questions regarding actual practices, methodologies and tools being used in Quality 4.0 approaches. However, the research undertaken allowed to identify in the literature different ways of conceptualizing and analyzing Quality 4.0, opening up avenues for further research on quality management in the Industry 4.0 era.

This paper offers a broad look at how quality management is changing in response to the affirmation of the Industry 4.0 paradigm.

This paper attempts to investigate the approaches used for implementing total quality management (TQM) practices and study its impact on ABC India Limited (Name changed), a tyre manufacturing industry for realizing leadership in the Indian market. The other objectives are to explore the key issues faced by the company before TQM and study the benefits achieved after TQM implementation.

A conceptual case study research methodology has been utilized in this paper. The industry was facing some major business challenges such as low productivity, financial issues and low market presence since 1996. To overcome these issues, the top management of the industry adopted TQM as a business improvement tool and started its implementation in 2008.

A good number of improvement initiatives under four TQM approaches such as management approach, development approach, improvement approach and involvement approach were performed systematically and strategically. As a result of the successful implementation of TQM initiatives, the industry received the most prestigious quality award namely Deming Prize in 2017.

With the implementation of the TQM philosophy in the industry, it gained the top market position, the customer satisfaction score increased from 75 to 81, market presence increased from 7.2% to 26.3% and the percentage participation of employees increased by 73.5% within a period from 2009 to 2016.

The novelty of this research is to consider a case-based approach that will be helpful in promoting the utilization of the TQM philosophy in other industries for gaining competitive advantages.

Quality 4.0 represents the integration of quality management principles with digital technologies to drive continuous improvement and innovation in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the essential organizational variables (OVs) for the successful implementation of Quality 4.0 in the Indian furniture industry.

Through a broad literature review, data from the Indian furniture industry and experts’ judgments a list of nineteen OVs have been recognized and classified into four major categories of digitalization, design, continuous improvement and employee training and up-skilling. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been used to give comparative importance and prioritize the identified nineteen OVs of Quality 4.0 in the context of the Indian furniture industry.

The results of this study reveal that the identified variables are very important for successful Quality 4.0 implementation and have been supported by empirical evidence from the Indian furniture industry. The variable “automation” under the digitalization-related category is a significant variable having a maximum weightage of 26.8% followed by Cloud computing (DI4) having a global weight of 12.8%.

In addition to offering valuable insights and practical recommendations, the study recognizes a few limitations, such as industry-specific and the limited sample size. To diminish these limitations, future research should believe in conducting similar studies in different industries and extend the scope of the study.

Quality 4.0 is a term that refers to the integration of advanced digital technologies and smart data analytics into quality management systems to implement it considering OVs.

Although total quality management (TQM) is an innovative management philosophy, how it connects innovative behaviour (INB) to innovation performance (INP) has gone unnoticed. Also, the external factors (technological turbulence [TUR], competitive intensity [CMP], market dynamism [MKD] and government regulation [GOV]) under which the INB–TQM connection may grow are yet to be understood. In spite of the various evolutions that have occurred in the banking industry, there remains a necessity to enhance the quality of service offered to clients. This paper aims to address these issues in the total quality management literature.

This study constructs and analyses a research framework by analysing the replies of 260 executives in senior and intermediate positions across 21 quality-certified universal banks in Ghana, using the Smart PLS methodology.

TQM played a partial mediating role between INB and INP (variance accounted for = 46.85%, p = 0.000). TUR (β = 0.023, p = 0.000), CMP (β = 0.043, p = 0.000), MKD (β = 0.056, p = 0.000) and GOV (β = 0.068, p = 0.000) positively and significantly moderated the INB–TQM connection.

Future research may examine the proposed framework in various environments and sectors.

Practical insights for industry players in the sector are discussed.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to show how innovation serves both as an antecedent and consequence of TQM. It is also the first to explicate the boundary conditions under which the INB–TQM relationship may flourish.

While scholars have researched the impact of specific total quality management (TQM) aspects on innovation performance (INP), empirical evidence on how the former, as a composite construct, influences the latter is rare. To add, empirical evidence on the mechanism through which TQM passes to affect innovative behaviour (INB) and, then, INP is limited. Essentially, scholars have requested that future research look at the boundary conditions that support the adoption of TQM activities in businesses. Although the banking sector has experienced a number of transformations, there is still a need to raise the standard of service provided to bank customers. This research sheds more light on this subject.

This research tests the hypotheses in Ahinful et al.’s (2023) conceptual model using responses from 260 top- and middle-level bank managers by applying Smart PLS. Organisational support and team member exchange were used as potential control variables for the mediator, while slack resources and bank size were applied to the target endogenous latent construct. Mediation and moderation effects were estimated using the variance accounted for (VAF) and product indicator approaches, respectively. Sig. level was set at 5%.

This study found that TQM and INP had a positive and significant connection (ß = 0.303, p = 0.000), and INB partially mediated this connection (VAF = 40.92%). However, government regulation (GOV; ß = 0.055, p = 0.365), market dynamism (MKD; ß = 0.063, p = 0.434), competitive intensity (CMP; ß = 0.069, p = 0.297) and technological turbulence (TUR; ß = 0.011, p = 0.865) all failed to moderate the TQM–INB connection, although the expected positive directions of these moderation relationships were established.

This research provides empirical evidence on the TQM–INP connection, how this connection may be mediated and how the TQM–INB connection may be activated. It also sheds light on novel ways in which service quality in the banking sector may be improved. Upcoming research may explore other control variables in their research. Since the moderating relationships were unsupported, this avenue is open for further research, particularly in other banking settings across the globe.

Practical lessons for bank consultants, regulators, customers, employees and managers are deliberated.

This research is novel. It is the first to test the hypotheses in Ahinful et al.’s (2023) conceptual model. This study advances the theoretical frameworks and existing knowledge within the TQM, innovation and performance management fields.

The current study focuses on the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and sustainable performance (SP) and examines how TQM practices can facilitate firms' achievement of sustainable performance. Knowledge management (KM), with its four dimensions, i.e. knowledge creation (KCR), knowledge acquisition (KAC), knowledge sharing (KSH) and knowledge application (KAP), is also an essential factor for organizations. Therefore, this study also focuses on the mediating role of KM in the relationship between TQM and sustainable performance.

This study used a survey method to collect data from the managers of 485 manufacturing SMEs working in five major industrial cities in Pakistan. Collected data were analyzed through PLS-SEM with the help of smart-PLS.

The study's findings reveal that TQM practices positively influence the environmental and economic sustainability of the firm. At the same time, there is no evidence that TQM practices positively affect the social sustainability of the firm. Results further elaborate that TQM practices significantly affect all four dimensions of KM. Moreover, KM positively affects the two dimensions of SP, i.e. economic and social sustainability, but surprisingly, the impact of KM on environmental sustainability is not found. Finally, results indicate the significant mediating role of KM between TQM and SP.

This study contributes to bridging research gaps in the literature and advances how TQM, directly and indirectly, helps firms improve sustainable performance via the mediating role of KM.

Companies should enhance their market position and competitiveness by improving staff effectiveness, skills, resource commitment, and applying relevant managerial methods. This study aims to examine the impact of knowledge management (KM) and total quality management (TQM) on employee effectiveness (EE) and supply chain performance (SCP) in emerging economies.

The used methodology consists on conducting a survey within Tunisian companies, where the authors gathered 206 responses. Collected data was analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software, enabling the authors to establish a conceptual model. This model was further examined through structural equation modeling, using analysis of moment structures (AMOS) software for hypothesis validation. Additionally, the authors’ research aimed to enhance SCP and boost EE while minimizing costs through a nonlinear mathematical model and the quality function deployment method.

The results indicate that TQM and KM positively impact EE, and KM and EE positively impact SCP. However, the significance of employee performance on SCP varies depending on company location and industry sector studied.

This work emphasized the involvement of small- and medium-sized enterprise managers from emerging economies in the studied concepts and confirmed the effects of KM and TQM practices on EE and SCP.

New product development (NPD) is necessary for business sustenance and customer satisfaction. Six Sigma and Design for Lean Six Sigma (DLSS) efficiently employ the repetitive stages for NPD, leading to quality performance and profitability. This study aims to map the quality performance through NPD attributes through the Lean methodology.

The data on NPD were collected from 267 respondents from manufacturing companies to map the relationship between Six Sigma and DLSS for NPD. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to confirm model fit, while structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the empirical data for framework testing. The study included nine variables and fourteen hypotheses identified from the literature.

The statistical results of this study show that NPD attributes such as innovation, marketing, organization, customer, product and technology positively influence the Lean Six Sigma structured improvement process (LSSSIP) and DLSS. Moreover, integrating these attributes in Lean planning enhance quality performance. This empirical investigation's findings indicate that ten of the 14 hypotheses were supported, giving the study a strong foundation.

The data collection was limited to northern India; therefore, the results may not be generalizable to other areas of the world.

NPD involves handling technical issues and factors such as cost, operational bottlenecks, economic changes, competitors' strategy and company policy. This study helps understand the various NPD parameters and their relationship to Lean, which enables an effective NPD implementation strategy.

The current philosophy of NPD calls for a concurrent engineering approach; therefore, the entire organization must be part of this process. This study uses the holistic framework by optimizing NPD with Lean Six Sigma (LSS) principles. The study is unique in that, to date, research does not integrate NPD attributes with the objectives of LSS to develop an efficient NPD implementation strategy.