Firm resource advantage, total quality management, SME performance: empirical evidence from Nigerian manufacturing firms

Considerable research attention has been devoted to examining the relationship between total quality management and SME performance. Further, extant research has traditionally focused on examining contextual factors, such as business environment, organisational culture, firm age, and firm size as moderators between total quality management and SME performance. However, we cannot theoretically rule out the important of other moderating variables on this relationship that are yet to be explored. The current study examined whether the relationship between total quality management and SME performance depends upon firm resource advantage. Based on survey data collected from 212 SMEs, located in Kano metropolis, findings suggested that total quality management was significantly associated with SME performance. The results also indicated that the relationship between total quality management and SME performance was moderated by firm resource advantage. The implications of the results for explaining the performance of SMEs are discussed