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The aim of this paper is to investigate the development of the quality movement in Sweden since the mid-20th century. The authors are convinced that a summary of the Swedish quality journey so far will offer important lessons for further quality improvements in Sweden and elsewhere.

The authors study how the quality movement has been included in the industrial agenda and how it has been adopted in student curricula and in research. The authors have a focus on how business leaders have learnt, adopted, adapted and innovated with respect to quality development. often in collaboration with academia.

Although the quality movement has fit well with the Swedish culture and that successful corporate leaders have successfully used the specific cultural characteristics there is still a lot to be learnt with respect to the public sector, where the ideas from the quality movement have problem to overcome institutional barriers.

The study is limited to the Swedish context.

There is a serious need to revitalize the public sector by getting leaders and politicians to understand the need for systematic quality improvement.

If future Swedish achievements with respect to healthcare and other social welfare elements are to once again become world-class, the public sector needs to be open-minded and collaborate with the industrial sector and academia to find cost-effective strategies for making quality improvements. However, the private sector must also be alert not to be overtaken by some highly active Asian countries.

Swedish large companies have been very successful in applying quality leadership – however, in the public sector, this has not been the case. Suggestions for improvement are made.

This study aimed to explore the experiences of female academics and researchers in tertiary institutions in South Africa as a means of bridging the gaps in research productivity.

The study adopted a qualitative research design of a phenomenological type to explore the experiences of purposively selected 20 female academics and researchers in a South African University. A semi-structured interview was used to generate data, while NVivo version 14 software was used to code and thematically categorise codes.

The study’s findings showed that female academics and researchers have mixed perceptions about the usefulness of artificial intelligence for their research productivity. While many used ChatGPT to support their research and other scholarly works, others identified the fear of involving in unethical acts that can tarnish their academic integrity as a threat to its usage. Nonetheless, the tool has contributed to their productivity.

The outcome of this study is a pointer to the need for educational leaders in tertiary institutions in Africa to upskill academics and researchers' knowledge of the use of emerging technologies for research. Institutions could achieve this through training and peer mentoring.

The study is unique because it will call the attention of academics and researchers, especially women, to how the integration of education technologies can help improve both their research and teaching mandate delivery.