However, the diffusion of innovation literature suggests that, despite the inaccurate perceptions and irrationalities that enter into all decisions, most firms will access themselves and TQM more or less nationally using the five criteria, and those least-suited to TQM will not generally attempt it. As a result, if TQM dose produce economic value, TQM firms should outperform non-TQM firms overall. Therefore, the following hypothesis acts as an initial test of the economy value of TQM: