The Mediating Role of Organizational Culture in Managing the Relationship Between Quality and Innovation: A Conceptual Model Proposal

Quality and Innovation play a fundamental role in helping organizations secure sustainable competitive advantage. However, the nature of their relationship has seen contradictory results. This ongoing research project seeks to relaunch the debate on the relationship between TQM and Innovation, doing so from a novel perspective that considers the cultural orientation of an organization as the key success factor in mediating the relationship between TQM and Innovation. It sets to understand if the creation of a cultural orientation to Quality supports the development of Innovation capabilities. In a first report of this project, the outcomes of this work are the review of the literature on the relationship between Quality and Innovation, the proposal of a conceptual model and the establishment of a series of hypothesis to further study their relationship.