Total Quality Management Implementation in Portuguese Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

This research aims to study the role that the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) may have on organizational performance of Portuguese university and polytechnic higher education institutions, through a literature review that supports the presentation of a conceptual model proposed by the authors. This research is justified by the observation of a reality still relatively little studied at the level of higher education institutions, not only in Portugal but also in other countries, particularly about the perspective of their financial sustainability, in line with the growing relevance that quality has come to assume in these institutions. Regarding the methodology, a study of a qualitative nature is contemplated, although using quantitative techniques, being the data obtained through the application of a questionnaire elaborated by the authors to evaluate the different dimensions of the proposed conceptual model. In the treatment of quantitative data, a model of structural equations (SEM) will be used, to investigate the possible relations between the different dimensions incorporated in the model.