An investigation of the total quality management survey based research published between 1989 and 2000

TLDR

Research on total quality management (TQM) has proliferated over recent decades, yet few studies have catalogued its critical factors. The review aims to catalogue TQM factors from survey studies and analyze article objectives over time and journal type to identify trends and suggest future research directions. The authors examined 76 survey studies and 347 survey‑based research articles, grouping TQM factors into 25 categories and using this framework to assess the most frequently addressed factors. The study found that the objectives of the 347 articles could be classified into six distinct categories.

Abstract

There has been a plethora of published research related to total quality management (TQM) in the last few decades. However, very few studies focused on cataloging critical factors of TQM. One of the objectives of this literature review was to investigate the state of TQM by examining and listing various TQM factors identified based on survey studies conducted in different countries and published in a variety of journals over the past decade. An examination of 76 survey studies that used an integrated approach to TQM showed that the TQM factors could be grouped under 25 categories. An analysis of the 347 survey based research articles published between 1989 and 2000 using these 25 factors as a framework revealed the most frequently covered TQM factors in the literature. Another goal of the paper was to analyse the objectives of these articles by year and type of journal they were published in to determine the trends in TQM survey based studies and recommend future direction for research. The analysis showed that the objectives of the 347 studies could be grouped under six categories.