Knowledge management, total quality management and innovation: a new look

Abstract

In the present challenging dynamic environment, innovation is considered as a capability that renews the competitive advantage of a company. In recent years, considerable effort has been made to examine the factors that affect innovation in organizations. Knowledge management and total quality management, which play an important role in the contemporary management progress, are among the factors investigated. On the one hand, knowledge management has been recognized as an enabler that can deploy innovation by creating, storing, transferring, and applying knowledge, while on the other hand, the implementation of total quality management practices are addressed as one of the important factors that can influence innovation in a positive way. Lately, although a few researchers have shown some interest in the relationship of total quality management and knowledge management and their have not reached a consensus to conceptualize this relation. Looking at it from the methodological perspective, this problem can be tackled by using the Joint Variance analysis method where it can demonstrate correlation among independent variables and the effect of them on innovation. This study aims to propose a framework that shows how total quality management and knowledge management are reciprocally related to each other and how this affinity can impact innovation.