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Building on the sociotechnical systems theory (STS), the purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct impacts of the social and technical QMs (ISO 9001) practices on both incremental and radical product innovation and the direct relationships relaying QMs (ISO 9001) as a sociotechnical system with incremental and radical product innovation.

The paper opted for a survey instrument to collect quantitative data from 82 Moroccan certified ISO 9001 firm. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the research hypotheses.

Results show that the social and technical QMs (ISO 9001) practices do not have a significant relationship with incremental and radical product innovation when they are taken in isolation. However, when ranged together to constitute a whole sociotechnical system of QMs (ISO 9001), QMs (ISO 9001) prove to have a strong positive and significant impact on incremental product innovation and a weak positive and significant impact on radical product innovation.

Because of the small sample size that might weaken the significance of the results and the use of cross-sectional data, this research may lack a large statistical generalizability vis-à-vis the analytical generalization.

The results provide useful implications for managers, suggesting that in order to develop their product innovation, they must ensure that both QMs (ISO 9001) social and technical practices achieve a high level of integration without allowing some quality practices to take over.

Based on the STS, this study is the first to focus primarily on the role of the multi-dimensional structure of QMs (ISO 9001), i.e. social and technical practices, in incremental and radical product innovation.

The paper aims to identify causality amongst small and medium enterprises' (SMEs') performance indicators, propose an integrated index of business performance and quality practices and investigate the effect of quality management system (QMS) on business performance.

This study proposes a two-stage approach. In the first stage, the authors gathered responses with a questionnaire on variables affecting business performance and identified dimensions using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Path analysis was carried out to identify causality between the dimensions. In the next stage, the validation of stage 1 findings was carried out to substantiate the proposition that QMS affects performance. Questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews were conducted during the second stage. The analysis was done following the case study protocol – within- and cross-case analysis and validated with supportive and conflicting literature.

The results show that the employee – dimension is crucial to process effectiveness, customer satisfaction and finances. Customer satisfaction results from employee satisfaction and processes. QMS impacts processes and employee performance, thus establishes the causality between business performance factors and QMS. QMS impacts finances in the short run but yields long-term benefits and is dependent on two factors – degree of knowledge of quality practices and its application in business.

This study reveals the performance dimensions of SMEs, their causality and the impact of QMS on performance. It suggests a shift from traditional approaches, correcting defects using statistical quality control approaches, to a sustainable growth path – a long-term approach. This study puts forward two associated indices – the business performance and the knowledge of quality practices and its application index.

Studies have not investigated how the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000 quality management system (QMS) guides manufacturers’ and their partners’ creative processes in devising an innovative supply chain structure. Accordingly, this study aims to explore this subject.

A systematic literature analysis was conducted to explore how the ISO 9000 QMS might guide manufacturers’ and supply chain partners’ creative processes and the further development of an innovative supply chain organizational structure. The systematic literature analysis is divided into the following two parts: the first part collects related literature to analyze and explore based on the research questions and purpose. The second part is an association analysis. The results of the association analysis show that these related literatures are suitable for the analysis and exploration of the research questions and purpose.

This study developed an analytic framework to compare the elements of four components of the ISO 9000 QMS and the ingredients that drive creativity and innovation; the study also reviewed related publications to deeply analyze the relationship between the elements of the four components and the ingredients of creativity and innovation. The authors observed that when manufacturers and partners implement the ISO 9000 QMS, their use of the elements of the four components engages all ingredients and thereby facilitates the manufacturers’ and partners’ creative process in the development of an innovative organizational structure.

According to the results of the analysis, practitioners can understand how to improve the innovation of an organization’s supply chain from ISO 9000 QMS components. In addition, the research has resulted in developing additional research propositions concerning the relationship between the four components of the ISO 9000 QMS and ingredients that drive creativity and innovation. Based on these propositions, more research hypotheses can be further developed.

The research results prove that the ISO 9000 QMS has a positive effect on facilitating the creative process and innovation, with regard to the organizational structure, and it also provides the underlying reasons for this effect.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and classify potential and verified benefits of implementing quality management systems (QMSs) according to ISO 9000 standards.

The research is based on a comprehensive review of the relevant literature, mostly articles relating to implementation of the ISO 9000 QMS and its impact on customer satisfaction and business performance.

The literature adduces possible benefits of the effective implementation of the ISO 9000 QMS and searches for related support in published empirical research. The paper classifies the major identified and empirically verified benefits into four groups in relation to the balanced scorecard (BSC) approach to categorising company objectives. It also relates the potential benefits to specific standard requirements and the pre‐conditions that must be met in the implementation stage of the ISO 9001 in order to attain these benefits.

This study of the benefits has not focused on the standard releases, so the benefits are not shown separately for each release. Besides, there is less research on the latest releases (from 2000 and 2008) and thus perhaps none of their benefits has been recognised.

By discussing the standards' requirements and the implementation approaches and circumstances that may impact on the effectiveness of the introduced QMS, such as motives for introducing the QMS and the strategic approach to its implementation, it tries to help management build their QMS so that potential benefits are realised.

By aggregating the outcome of several research papers the paper paints a “big picture” of the business benefits of effectively implementing the ISO 9000 QMS, which could be a step towards further research and help management and practitioners in companies to develop their QMS.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how a large public university sustains its ISO 9001 quality management system (QMS) for the past 20 years. At the same time, this paper also provides a snapshot on the problems and challenges faced and overcame by the university in its quality journey.

This is a case study and therefore it describes interventions and experiences within the university as the subject understudy.

There are four main phases of QMS that the university has undergone, namely, initiation, internalisation, alignment and improvement in the last 20 years. Critical success factors for implementing and maintaining the QMS are commitment from people, training and good communication. Some of the problems and challenges encountered have included a lack of knowledge and understanding of the processes and standards, lack of relevant skills, lack of commitment and cooperation from people, lack of resources and poor communication.

This paper provides insights into the world of QMS’s sustainability in a large public university that will be useful as a guide for academic managers and administrators. It also presents the issues of transitioning from the previous to the current standard experienced by the university which has not been discussed by many.

This paper compares impact of Industry 4.0 / emerging information and communication Technologies (ICTs), for example, Internet of things (IOT), machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and cloud computing, on 22 organisational performance indicators under nine combinations of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and quality management systems (QMS).

Survey of 105 Indian organisations was done about their experience of using QMS, Lean Six Sigma and emerging ICTs. Respondents included both manufacturing and service enterprises of different scales and sectors. The responses collected were compared, and statistically significant difference among them was evaluated using chi-square test.

The study confirmed statistically significant difference among 20 organisational performance indicators under different combinations of QMS, LSS and ICTs. These indicators include quality performance, delivery performance, sales turnover, inventory level and so forth. However, for two indicators, namely, absenteeism and throughput, significant difference in responses was not established.

All possible combinations of QMS, LSS, only LSS tools and ICTs were not studied because of either theoretical impossibility (e.g. using LSS without LSS tools) or practically rare situations (e.g. organisations using ICTs and LSS without QMS). Furthermore, the impact from different sequences of implementing QMS, LSS and ICTs can be studied.

Using this study, practitioners can identify which LSS, Quality System and ICT combination results in best performance and quick success. On theoretical front, the study confirms impact of LSS and QMS on organisational performance.

This study evaluates organisational performance under several possible combinations of QMS, LSS, and emerging ICTs, which was so far unexplored.

Although aligning information technology (IT) with quality management (QM) is a popular concept, it has not yet been properly, theoretically and empirically grounded. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify critical factors for the effective implementation (CFEI) of IT-enabled ISO-9000 quality management system (QMS).

The primary field data were collected through a questionnaire survey of 381 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were applied to check the reliability and validity of the data collected. First, using pattern matrix, 48 items (extracted from relevant literature) representing CFEI of IT-enabled ISO-9000 QMS were grouped into six latent variables (eigenvalue⩾1). Second, to test the relationship among CFEI, firm performance and competitive positioning, six hypotheses were formulated and tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) procedure.

The study results found that identified CFEI of IT-enabled ISO-9000 QMS, i.e. “strategic attributes” (β=0.517), “tactical attributes” (β=0.323), “operational attributes” (β=0.281), “organisational infrastructure and processes” (β=0.231), “system knowledge” (β=0.194), “alignment of system with firm’s strategy” (β=0.230), have a significant effect (p<0.05) on the successful implementation of ISO-9000 QMS. The critical factors are found to have a direct and positive impact on the firm’s performance. Study results found that the critical factors do not directly affect the firm’s competitive positioning (β=−0.097), but they do so indirectly through customer satisfaction (β=0.627) and operational performance (β=0.482).

The proposed model provides critical factors to align IT system with ISO-9000 QMS which is highly required mainly for SMEs. The study will provide a mean by which small manufacturing firms can counter the effects of increasing global competition.

Quality management system provides the top management a self‐regulating tool to enhance the company’s operation. Hong Kong is coming to age with quality management. A trend has been developing in Hong Kong whereas construction contractors have to adopt and be certified under the ISO 9000 Quality Management Scheme (QMS) in order to become government contractors. It is found that even though the companies have adopted the QMS for over three years, however, their qualities of service do not improve as expected. Quality culture has not been firmly established in the construction sector in Hong Kong. Summarizes attitude, experience and the underlining factors that drive the construction contractors to the QMS system. Findings indicated that companies are forced to adopt the QMS rather than motivated from within the top management. The two distinctive incentives for adoption of QMS by the companies are to improve quality image and to satisfy client requirements, particularly the government. Concludes that motivation from within an organization is the only key to improving quality realistically.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the difficulties observed during implementation of quality management systems (QMSs) in Brazilian manufacturing companies.

The methodological strategy used was a literature review, a panel of experts and a survey. Through the literature review, 15 difficulties associated with the implementation of QMS were raised; these were organized into latent variables by specialists in the subject and served as the basis for a survey. In total, 123 professionals working with quality management in manufacturing companies participated in the research and the data collected were analyzed by means of second-order confirmatory factorial analysis.

The results allowed the validation of the 15 difficulties observed in the literature, and it was evidenced that these difficulties are structured in four latent variables as follows: difficulties associated with employees; difficulties associated with QMS structuration; difficulties associated with integration; and difficulties resulting from the planning.

The main limitation of this research is the sample size, because 123 professionals that work with quality management in manufacturing companies participated in the research. It should be noted, however, that all parameters evaluated through the second-order confirmatory factorial analysis were validated.

The findings have great value for both quality management professionals, who may use those findings to guide the pre-implementation phase of a QMS, and researchers, who may use those findings as a foundation for future studies, in the development of models or tools related to QMS implementation.

No other paper was found on the scientific basis with the same focus for Brazilian manufacturing companies, thus demonstrating originality. The value of the research lies in the fact that the results presented here, statistically validated, may be used by other researchers and market professionals.

Achievement of objectives of education and training is one of significant factors influencing quality of life. Higher education institutions use different work, teaching methods and tools; however they are inadequate in many cases. Today higher education institutions have problems concerning sustention and rise of certain level of education by giving the job for graduates, using of new technologies that help to present, manage, evaluate and control knowledge. The main objectives of quality management system (QMS) at higher education institutions are as follow: to assure continuous improvement of education quality; to demonstrate performance results and relevant facts to the interested parties (customers of college or university, social partners, administrative institutions) showing the abilities of education institution to prepare high qualification specialists that fully correspond to changing requirements of labour market. The QMS at education institutions should be designed as continuous process, considering that the quality of final product is the result achieved in primary processes. The process shall involve all interested parties. Parameters and indicators of education quality can help to analyze the efficiency and effectiveness of existing QMS. The results of quality audits should be also taken into account when designing and implementing QMS at organization. Literature review showed that for the assurance of education quality three different approaches prevail: total quality management (TQM); requirements of quality awards and assessment models; and QMS corresponding to the requirements of ISO 9001 standard. The case study of QMS design and implementation at Vilnius Law and Business College is presented in the paper. The peculiarities, difficulties and obstacles of QMS implementation in the higher educations institutions are analysed in more detail in this article.