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- Quality Management and Excellence in the third sector: examining European Quality in Social Services (EQUASS) in non-profit social servicesPublication . Melão, Nuno; Maria Guia, Sara; Amorim, MarleneThird sector organisations are increasingly pressured to implement Quality Management and Excellence programmes. However, there is a paucity of literature investigating the impacts of such programmes. This research discusses the benefits, pitfalls, and professional practice effects of the implementation of the European Quality in Social Services (EQUASS) certification in non-profits. It uses a qualitative multiple case study approach of four Social Services Organisations (SSO) that have adopted the Assurance and Excellence levels of EQUASS. The findings indicate evident enhancements in process quality, whereas service outcome improvements or economic benefits were unclear. Although some impacts are specific to EQUASS Assurance and Excellence, they are consistent in many ways with those of ISO 9001 and the European Foundation for Quality Management Excellence model, respectively. The practice of social workers became more systematic and user centric, while their workload and time management difficulties also increased. Overall, the EQUASS certification may generate benefits that offset costs, but some challenges remain if quality of service/life is to clearly improve in SSO.
- Exploring the impacts of ISO 9001 on small- and medium-sized social service institutions: a multiple case studyPublication . Melão, Nuno; Guia, SaraAlthough there is an extensive body of literature about the implementation of the ISO 9001 standard, the study of its impacts on non-mainstream areas such as social services has received little interest. The purpose of this research is to explore the benefits, pitfalls and professional practice impacts of ISO 9001 on social services. A multiple case study of three small and medium-sized institutions certified on multiple services was conducted. The results show that (1) social services saw improvements in processes, employee motivation, internal communication and job design rather than service outcome improvements; (2) some impacts are specific to social services; and (3) the administrative workload of social workers increased, but they were better able to structure and tailor their work to the specific needs of users. This paper contributes to the understanding of implementing ISO 9001 in social service institutions. The implications and limitations are discussed together with suggestions for further research.
- Assessing a quality model for the social sector: an empirical study of the EQUASS modelPublication . Melão, Nuno; Bastida, R.; Marimon, F.Although the recent publication of a few scholarly papers has contributed to shorten the research-practice gap, there is still a shortage of empirical studies on quality management (QM) in the social sector. In particular, the study of the causal relationships incorporated in quality models that are specifically tailored to this sector remains to be examined. This research addresses this gap by (i) empirically analysing the fitness of the model underlying European Quality in Social Services (EQUASS), a QM and excellence programme for European social services, and (ii) proposing a model with an improved fit. It uses a structural equation modelling approach on a sample of 339 external audits from 32 European organisations that were awarded an EQUASS recognition or certification between 2012 and 2015. Results reveal that the EQUASS model (2012 version) does not fit with the sample collected. An improved model with seven constructs is proposed, which shows 2 excellent psychometric properties and good fit indexes. This research provides a better understanding of the causal relationships between QM practices embedded in the EQUASS model, along with a simpler alternative model that is especially suited to small and mediumsized providers, which represent the majority of the organisations in the social sector.