Strategic agility affects performance differently in different research. The conflicting views reflect a complex agility–performance association. This article provides clarification by introducing crucial but undiscovered factors, namely total quality management (TQM) and industry pressures – competitiveness, government regulation and technological turbulence. Drawing on the dynamic capability theory, the purpose of this article was to unlock the effect of agility on TQM and how TQM intervenes in the association between agility and innovation performance (INP). The article also explored how industry pressures moderate the agility–TQM association.
Data was collected from 155 telecom senior managers in Ghana. This article used a time-lagged causal design over two waves. The analysis was conducted employing the PLS-SEM technique.
The article found that agile companies enhance their TQM practices. TQM intervened in the agility–INP association. Industry pressures strengthened the agility–TQM association.
The main limitation of this study is that it was conducted only in the telecommunications industry of Ghana. Upcoming studies could test the research model in other highly competitive, highly regulated and technology-dependent industries and settings. In particular, they should test the model in developed economies and compare the findings. As this article found a partial mediation role of TQM, there is still room to use other undiscovered mediating factors to explain the conflicting findings in the association between agility and performance. This area is open to further research.
Telecom operations managers in Ghana should create flexible quality control processes while maintaining core standards. Marketing managers should leverage their organization’s agility–quality integration as a competitive differentiator. Human resource managers should redesign talent management strategies to prioritize adaptable and quality-minded employees. Regulators should set quality standards that allow flexibility in how companies achieve them. Corporate and individual clients should revise their service provider selection criteria to evaluate both responsiveness to changing needs and consistent quality delivery.
This article challenges the assumption in the literature that agility and TQM operate independently. It is the first to resolve the agility–performance ambivalence using TQM as an intervening factor in the association between agility and INP. In this context, the article responds to the research gaps identified by recent scholars. The article reframes industry pressures as catalysts instead of obstacles. This insight challenges the predominantly negative characterization of industry pressures. The article also redefines and presents a novel, more realistic and interrelated theoretical and empirical model that shows how companies may simultaneously pursue agility, TQM and innovation in a dynamic environment. It provides evidence from the telecommunications industry of Ghana, a developing country.
