Quality management internal auditing in small and medium-sized companies: an exploratory study on factors for significantly improving quality performance

The purpose of this paper is to investigate through an exploratory research the factors that are important for improving quality performance in SMEs through internal audits. The research employed a Delphi method and a 95% confidence interval (CI) using a sample of Italian SMEs. The quantitative results have been enriched by qualitative suggestions. The findings show that the important factors for improving quality performance are auditing key performance indicators (KPIs) as well as economic and financial indicators and controlling improvement initiatives. It is also important to have top-management commitment and to employ tools and principles from the Lean Six Sigma and TQM movements. Some controversial results pertaining to the use of managers for internal audits were revealed as well as auditors' knowledge of the products/services. Further, respondents believed that audits should be based on process mapping rather than formal procedures and that it was unnecessary to utilise qualified auditors. Although this research paper has its main limitation in collecting data from Italian SMEs only, we believe that the findings of this research could be useful to practitioners who want to improve the performance of the ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS). The findings also open avenues for further research.