A study of Irish service SMEs, concerning quality management programmes

This paper focuses on attitudes toward quality programmes within small to medium Irish service businesses. In addition, the level of quality programme implementation is established and perceived benefits of and impediments to implementation are uncovered. The findings indicated that positive attitudes toward quality models were not widespread amongst respondents; however attitudes were more positive amongst those who had implemented a quality model previously. Awareness and adoption levels of quality models are somewhat low. Encouragingly, perceived benefits related to implementation of a quality model appear to increase upon implementation, while the existence of perceived impediments decreases. This indicates a need for concentrated promotion of the benefits of quality models for small business, in order to improve attitudes and increase adoption levels within small to medium enterprises (SMEs).