Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) Quality Tool in Education: A Systematic Literature Review Effrosyni Taraza 1 , Sofia Anastasiadou 2,3 and Andreas Masouras 3 1 Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Western Macedonia, Florina, Greece, 2 Department of Midwifery, School of Health Sciences, University of Western Macedonia, Greece 3 Department of Economics and Business, Neapolis University, Pafos, Cyprus, sanastasiadou@uowm.gr dnured0128@uowm.gr a.masouras@nup.ac.cy Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) quality tool in education. Identifying the main themes of these effects is an additional aim of the present study. Understanding these issues can enable higher and secondary education centres to direct their management towards achieving outstanding results. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review was conducted based on data from two academic publishers, Emerald, Taylor and Francis. The 41 peer-reviewed journals articles were published between 1990 and 2023 and presented the results of the MBNQA quality tool in education. Findings – According to this research, several implications of the MBNQA quality tool in education are presented. The review of the literature reveals that there are many results found about the application of the quality tool in Tertiary and Secondary education, the challenges they face in terms of innovation, human resources and operations, as well as the achievement of excellent results from the application of the methodology. The main topics supported in the literature are human resources, knowledge management and the quality of services offered for the satisfaction of teachers and students. Research limitations/implications – An important limitation is that data were drawn from only two major journals (Emerald, Taylor and Francis), as implementation of the MBNQA quality tool is mainly found in the private sector. In addition, many keywords such as Quality Assurance and Business Excellence, led to application of the quality tool in businesses and organisation and little is its application in the public sector and education as a result the findings of articles were limited. An equally important limitation is that the authors did not always have got access to all databases and peer-reviewed journals, as well as in any review articles in languages other than English. Practical implications – This research is of interest to academic researchers, scholars and key decision makers in the field of education. The advantages recorded from the implementation of the MBNQA quality tool and the limitations from the study and presentation of the 41 articles motivate academic researchers to further study service quality in order to create a climate focused on learning for the satisfaction of students and teachers so as to fill the gap of limited publications in the field of education. Originality/value – Many models have been adapted to higher education including the MBNQA quality tool. The MBNQA appears to have the largest number of historical applications in higher education, with its focus on customer satisfaction and improvement information. However, the systematic literature review reveals the increasing trend of using quality tools in the field of education in recent years. Moreover, literature reviews on the use of models in this field are limited. Therefore, more research is needed to determine the benefits, as well as limitations and outcomes of applying qualitative tools in Education in the future. Keywords: MBNQA, Systematic literature review, Total Quality Management, Business Excellence and Education, Baldrige award, Quality Assurance. 1. Introduction and motivation Promoting the quality management of organisation and businesses is a goal of many public organisation and private businesses (Anastasiadou & Zirinoglou, 2015a;2015b;2020a;2020b;2020c; Taraza & Anastasiadou, 2019a;2019b; Papadimitriou, et al., 2022; Anastasiadou & Papadaki, 2019). Many statistical tools and quality models have been used to improve processes. Productivity and efficiency of these organisations including the quality tool of Baldrige, known for his work in promoting quality management and for the creation of the Baldrige Award, which is awarded to companies and organisations that demonstrate excellence in their activities (Anastasiadis et al., 2016; Anastasiadou & Anastasiadis, 2019; Anastasiadou, 2015;2016;2018a;2018b;2018c;2018d; Taraza et al., 2023; Papadaki & Anastasiadou, 2019). While Baldrige's legacy is primarily associated with his contributions to the business world, his ideas about quality management and performance excellence can be applied to many other areas, including education (Anastasiadou et al., 2016a; 2016b; Anastasiadou et al., 2014; Anastasiadou & Taraza, 2019a;2019b;2019c; 2020a;2020b). Educational institutions are increasingly evaluated based on their ability to deliver results and achieve specific goals (Fisher et al., 2001). The importance of quality in education is a matter of priority for nations and many efforts have been made to improve it. The international literature presents many examples of quality principles with significant results in the administration of higher education institutions (Yeo and Li, 2014; Min et al., 2012; Vauterin et al., 2011; Nadir et al., 2009; Owlia and Aspinwall, 1996). If a company or public agency does not meet 29 Proceedings of the 18th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, ECIE 2023