The link between Quality Management and Innovation Performance: A content analysis of survey-based research

Abstract

Previous contributions have reported contradictory findings about the effects of Quality Management (QM) on innovation performance. The purpose of this paper is to critically appraise methodological issues in the literature concerning the link between QM and innovation performance, in order to reveal possible differences in the research design which may explain the heterogeneity of the findings. Through a content analysis of peer-reviewed journal articles on this topic from 1994 to 2016, the authors compare the research designs used, and identify the most prevalent practices in conducting survey-based research. In addition, cross-tabulations are used to analyze the relationships between methodological issues and type of findings. The main findings can be summarized as follows: some papers report incomplete information about methodological issues; they focus on the organizational level of analysis and see higher managers as common informants; there is a lack of research which combines surveys with other methods, as well as of longitudinal designs; and the way QM and innovation performance are measured conditions the findings obtained in the articles reviewed. The characteristics revealed in this analysis provide a platform to assist scholars in developing future stances in this and similar fields of research.