From quality systems to sustainable value creation: how TQM supports ESG-oriented performance in Moroccan industrial firms

Abstract

This revised theoretical article examines how total quality management (TQM) can support ESG-oriented performance in Moroccan industrial firms and clarifies the organizational conditions under which this contribution becomes substantive rather than symbolic. While prior research has convincingly linked TQM to operational discipline, customer satisfaction and efficiency gains, the literature remains fragmented regarding the way quality systems can be converted into environmental, social and governance outcomes in emerging industrial settings. Building on a structured conceptual review of the literature and an integrative theoretical reading that combines stakeholder theory, the resource-based view and legitimacy theory, the paper develops a mechanism-based framework that explains how TQM influences ESG-oriented performance through six interrelated pathways: process discipline and prevention, evidence-based decision making, employee involvement and learning, stakeholder-responsive relationship routines, continuous improvement and corrective learning, and leadership framing as a moderating condition. The core contribution of the article lies in showing that TQM does not merely coexist with ESG ambitions; it can operate as the organizational infrastructure that makes responsible performance measurable, discussable, auditable and improvable over time. The framework also clarifies that the most original pathway is not simple standardization, but the transformation of quality routines into a revisable learning system capable of supporting sustainable value creation. For Moroccan industrial firms facing simultaneous pressures of competitiveness, export integration, certification, legitimacy and organizational transformation, this perspective helps explain why TQM may become a strategic platform for operational responsibility rather than a narrow compliance device.

Classification JEL : M11, M14, L21, Q56

Paper type : Theoretical Research