The Impact of ICT Support and the EFQM Criteria on Sustainable Business Excellence in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

The problem of sustainable business excellence has been investigated according to different aspects in different fields. For a more detailed analysis, it is necessary to develop an integrative sustainable business excellence model, respecting the baseline model of business excellence according to the European Foundation of Quality Management, with the possibility of defining the relationships and levels of significance of different variables. The primary goal of this paper is to present a developed integrative model to simulate the effects of information and communication technologies, and quality and effects of leadership improvement, as independent variables, on sustainable business excellence in higher education institutions, as a dependent variable. The model was developed by applying dynamic system techniques and evaluated by using statistical methods. In the sample of 17 Serbian and 21 Russian universities, the authors analyzed the information and communication support, leadership and quality, and their impact on sustainable business excellence. According to the simulation analysis, it was concluded that the EFQM model of self-assessment could help produce a more customer-oriented culture in HEIs, through ICT support, leadership and quality criteria enhancements.