Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to study the possible mediating mechanisms (human resource management (HRM), learning and innovation) that could exist in the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance. This topic has been studied only by a few groups of researchers and these researchers have not analyzed all these concepts jointly.Design/methodology/approach: This research explores the relationships using partial least squares with data from 200 Spanish industrial companies. Analyzing the mentioned relationships in the Spanish context has been done by few researchers before.Findings: The study reveals that the adoption of transformational leadership styles improves performance when specific systems of HRM practices, learning and innovation are developed in an organization.Originality/value: This study, therefore, contributes to the understanding of the link between transformational leaders and performance by proposing a model in which it is evinced that this leadership style produces synergies between HRM, learning and innovation, which in the end, affect performance.

Purpose: Over the last few decades, some researchers have analysed the role of total quality management (TQM) as a precursor of innovation. However, the relationship between TQM and organisational innovation remains unclear and contradictory. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework intended to clarify the complex effect that the implementation of a TQM system has on organisational innovation, where market orientation (MO) and knowledge management (KM) play a mediator role. Design/methodology/approach: Data in this study come from a survey of 706 Spanish CEOs. The results were analysed employing structural equation modelling to determine how TQM, MO and KM influence innovation. Findings: The results of the empirical study show that there is a curvilinear effect between TQM and organisational innovation. Both MO and KM perspectives play a mediator role between TQM and innovation. Practical implications: Managers should be aware that management based on TQM help organisations not only to get higher quality but also to be market oriented and better manage their knowledge; what will help them to develop innovations. Originality/value: This research sheds light on the question of the relationship between TQM and organisational innovation that has received mixed conclusions in the literature. There is evidence in this research that the relationship between TQM and innovation responds to a curvilinear relationship, where high levels of TQM favour a more than proportionate effect on the development of innovation. It also clarifies the mechanisms by which this effect is produced, with MO and KM as mediator variables.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the hypothesis that the efficiency of Spanish tourism regions for the period 2005-2013 is determined by a group of contextual variables. In contrast with monitoring reports based on descriptive methods, this paper uses the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) bootstrap semiparametric procedure to investigate efficiency determinants. An innovative analysis addresses the problem of the stability of efficiency estimates of random changes in the isolated exogenous variables. The statistical significance of the potential attractors can offer a tool for strategic decisions, and no previous work compares the stability analysis results to the estimates derived from the two-stage algorithm. The model appropriately fits the data, with all the coefficients being of the correct sign and statistically significant. Hence, the fact that the exogenous variables influence the hypothesis is confirmed by the results, and the stability analysis helps to verify the significance of each variable. We also extend the traditional DEA analysis by exploring efficiency and productivity changes using the slacks-based measure (SBM) model and the bootstrapped Malmquist index approach to obtain total productivity growth estimates

Prior research has suggested that learning capabilities of exploitation and exploration may affect incremental and radical innovations in firms. Nevertheless, there has been a lack of empirical studies that have examined these relationships in quality-oriented organisations, especially in European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) organisations. This research empirically examines whether EFQM improves learning ambidexterity as well as promotes incremental and radical innovations. Concretely, this research explores these relationships, using Partial least squares (PLS) with data from 200 Spanish industrial companies. The results of this study show first that the EFQM framework enhances exploitation and exploration (ambidexterity), incremental and radical innovations. Secondly, these results demonstrate the power of exploitation and exploration over incremental and radical innovations. Thirdly, they display that learning capabilities may play a mediating role in the relationship between EFQM and both types of innovation. Moreover, the results of this study cover an existing gap in literature, since there is no literature that has tried to link as a whole quality management models, exploitation, exploration, incremental and radical innovations. The proposed framework is therefore helpful for managers, by providing a deeper understanding of how organisations may improve the results of their innovations by enhancing exploration and exploitation and by following the EFQM model.