The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of quality management on the development of organisational exploration.
Partial Least Square was used on a sample of 350 companies within the Spanish organic agro-food industry.
The study results provide empirical evidence of the positive and significant impact that quality management has on the development of organisational exploration.
Causal relationships cannot be applied to this study due to cross-sectional data being used rather than longitudinal data.
Quality management must be considered by managers an essential tool to the development of organisational exploration. As a systematic approach, that moves towards to the development of policies, attitudes and behaviours which foster and boots the development of organisational exploration.
Quality management is a widely used management approach, which organisations use to improve the quality of their products, services and their overall performance. Organisational exploration is seen as a fundamental tool to ensure sustainability, profitability and the future survival of organisations; however, there is disagreement throughout previous research. Some authors point out the importance of quality management in developing activities that promote organisational exploration, whereas other authors see quality management as an inhibitor. Given the great controversy in previous research, our study clarifies the role of quality management in the development of organisational exploration.
