Abstract

The integration of total quality management (TQM) principles into organizational strategy has been widely recognized, yet limited research has examined their impact on strategic planning success in the IT sector, particularly in emerging economies. This research examined the relationships among total quality management principles and the success of strategic planning in the IT industry of Hyderabad, and investigated the moderating role of top management support in the success of strategic planning. The impacts of six reflective constructs—continual improvement, customer focus, human resource focus, top management support, communication, and leadership commitment—on the success of strategic planning were assessed. The data were gathered from the information technology industry, which implements total quality management practices, and the organizations at least reached capability maturity model (CMM) 3 or higher. A total of 500 valid responses were analyzed using exploratory, confirmatory factor analysis to unravel the structural relationships among the constructs, and the hypotheses were tested via structural equation modeling analysis. The constructs of continual improvement, human resource focus, communication and leadership commitment are positive and statistically significant (p < .001) and influence the success of strategic planning in the IT industry, Hyderabad. The moderation results reveal that top management support strengthens the positive effects of leadership commitment, continuous improvement, communication and human resources on strategic planning success. However, top management support dampens the negative relationship between customer focus and strategic planning success. Overall, top management support was found to amplify the positive effects of most TQM principles and to mitigate the negative influence of excessive customer orientation. The findings contribute to quality management theory by linking TQM practices explicitly with strategic planning outcomes and by identifying leadership support as a key moderating factor. For practitioners, the study offers actionable guidance for strengthening leadership development, institutionalizing communication systems, embedding continuous improvement, and balancing client responsiveness with long-term strategies.