Relationships between the EFQM model criteria:: a study in Spanish universities

In the literature on quality management it is necessary to undertake empirical studies that go further into the knowledge and understanding of the relationships between the key implementation factors and the results. This work falls within that context and its reference is the EFQM Excellence Model and the field of higher education. The structural equations method is used and, more specifically, the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. The results from the analysis of the measurement and structural model support the reliability and validity of the European Excellence Model as a reference framework for the implementation, evaluation and improvement of quality in the area of higher education. The need to consider the agents together as the determinants of the results is also revealed, as well as there being an internal logic that connects the model's results. Moreover, the analysis has allowed us to conduct an in-depth study of the causal structure of the EFQM Model. An understanding of this structure may allow centres of higher education to direct their management towards the achievement of excellent results.