Quality Management, Knowledge Creation, and Innovation Performance: Insights from Ecuador

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the relationship between quality management, knowledge management, and innovative performance, and their impact on organizational performance in an emerging country. A sample of 349 Ecuadorian companies was surveyed between March and August 2017. Structural equation modeling was used for testing the theoretical hypothesis. Our study is one of the first attempts to explore the role of quality management for improving knowledge creation and innovation performance in emerging countries. Specifically, our results show which quality management practices are the most efficient for enhancing knowledge creation and innovation performance in an emerging country like Ecuador.