High‐involvement work practices, quality results, and the role of HR function: An exploratory study of manufacturing firms in Sri Lanka

Innovation Onset: A Moderated Mediation Model of High-Involvement Work Practices and Employees’ Innovative Work Behavior

Purpose

Based on the componential theory of creativity, this study examined the link between high-involvement work practices and employees’ innovative behavior by further investigating the moderating and mediating role of leadership humility and employees’ personal initiative.

Methodology

To test the hypothesized model, the data were gathered from 255-line staff and 119 supervisors working in the textile industry in Pakistan via the time lag technique. The proposed hypotheses were analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modeling using Smart-PLS software.

Findings

The results indicated that high-involvement work practices were significantly related to employees’ innovative work behaviors. Additionally, the moderation findings revealed that a higher level of leadership humility strengthens the relationship between high-involvement work practices and employees’ personal initiative. Furthermore, employees’ personal initiative mediates the relationship between high-involvement work practices and their innovative work behavior. The findings of the moderated mediation model indicated that a higher level of leadership humility leads to higher innovative behavior of employees in the presence of high-involvement work practices via employees’ personal initiative.

Practical Implications

This study’s findings are helpful for the management of organizations to understand the factors that enhance innovative work behaviors in high-involvement work practices. Moreover, managers should establish humble behaviors in their leadership style to influence employees’ personal initiative, which indirectly influences their innovative work behavior.

Originality/Value

The present study highlights the importance of leadership humility and employees’ personal initiative in the relationship between high-involvement work practices and innovative work behaviors of employees in the textile industry of Pakistan.

Total Quality Management Practices and Corporate Green Performance: Does Organizational Culture Matter?

Bearing in mind the environmental corrosion primarily triggered by the service sector, as well as the lack of studies detecting the factors that enable an organization to deal with this concern, the aim of this study is to analyze the impact of total quality management (TQM) practices on corporate green performance (CGP) and to investigate the causal relationship between total quality management practices and corporate green performance. This research also explores the mediating role of organizational culture (OC) within the relationship between TQM practices and CGP. In particular, this study is based on the MBNQA model, institutional theory, and green theory. The researchers collected data from 369 participants across 123 large and medium-sized private firms in the health sector in Pakistan. The structural analyses revealed the significant and positive impact of TQM practices on CGP. This demonstrates that TQM practices substantially augment organizational competencies to achieve green performance objectives. TQM practices have also had a positive and significant impression on organizational culture; furthermore, a parallel impact is seen between OC and CGP. Finally, OC is shown to have positively and significantly mediated the relationship between TQM and CGP. This study’s contextual analysis suggests that TQM is an equally important factor in accomplishing CGP objectives for both large and medium-sized firms.

Does people-related total quality management “work” for people? An empirical study of the Sri Lankan apparel industry

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between people-related total quality management (PTQM) practices and employee work attitudes, as well as the impact of the specific PTQM practices on work attitudes in the context of the Sri Lankan apparel industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The five PTQM practices included top management commitment, employee empowerment, training, employee involvement and teamwork. Employee work attitudes comprised of job satisfaction, affective commitment, job involvement and turnover intention. Data collected from the machine operator-level employees in the top 100 apparel exporters in Sri Lanka were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM).

Findings

The findings suggest that the PTQM practices were significant drivers of job involvement but not of job satisfaction, affective commitment and turnover intentions. It was also found that teamwork, training and employee involvement were the most important PTQM practices towards employee work attitudes. Top management commitment drove affective commitment and job involvement, while employee empowerment was important only for job involvement.

Research limitations/implications

The research only considered the top 100 export- apparel manufacturers in Sri Lanka; hence, care has to be taken for the findings to represent the entire manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka.

Originality/value

Based on the perceptions of floor level employees, which is scarcely investigated in the PTQM domain, the paper presents an interesting and unique perspective on the relationship between the PTQM practices and employee work attitudes, challenging majority of previous research findings. Besides making theoretical contributions, the findings offer valuable insights into the management of Sri Lankan apparel companies by highlighting the PTQM practices, which need to be strengthened.

Total quality and socially responsible management (TQSR-M)

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated conceptual framework of total quality management and corporate social responsibility.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on stakeholder theory, which stresses the satisfaction of all stakeholders. Therefore, companies generate profit for their shareholders by producing high quality products and services to emphasize human dignity and to satisfy their employees without harming people and the natural environment.

Findings

The results of the study suggest an integrated conceptual framework by identifying the critical factors that are parallel between quality management and social responsibility to satisfy key stakeholders’ demands.

Research limitations/implications

This study is conceptual in nature, and empirical research is needed to identify the critical factors that promote the application of TQM and CSR practices, which are limited.

Practical implications

The proposed conceptual framework may facilitate the management of an organization to evaluate its quality and social programs and will highlight problem areas that can be improved. This study contributes to the literature on TQM and CSR and captures the important factors for effective TQM and CSR practices. The conceptual framework will help researchers and firms to recognize TQM and CSR initiatives and establish a strengthened relationship between corporate strategy and social conditions.

Originality/value

Previous studies have been conducted separately in the areas of TQM and CSR, and there are still not sufficient number of studies to simultaneously integrate quality management and social responsibility. Thus, there is a critical research gap, which raises the question of how the integration of TQM and CSR practices can be developed. There is a need to recognize the mechanism through which the specific element of CSR would be included as an implicit and/or explicit aspect or whether it should be addressed along with TQM. Therefore, this study proposes an integrated conceptual framework that can be applied to the broader issues of responsibility rather than just quality.

The effectiveness of high-involvement work practices in manufacturing firms: Does context matter?

This paper adopts an integrative and complementary approach to the universalistic and contingency frameworks for analyzing the effectiveness of high-involvement work practices (HIWPs) in Spanish manufacturers. It focuses on some practices that firms adopt at operational level (decentralization, teamwork, job enlargement, information and knowledge sharing and performance-based compensation) to enhance operational performance (cost, quality, flexibility and delivery) and financial performance (return on asset), dealing with the possible moderating effect of three contextual variables: firm age, firm size and trade union power. Using moderated hierarchical regressions and data from 265 Spanish manufacturers, our results show that three of the five HIWPs considered in our study have direct effects on business performance. We also find that three contextual variables have moderating effects on the relation between HIWPs and business performance. Our paper contributes to the debate over the respective merits of the universalistic and contingency frameworks; it offers a broader view about the type of contemporary human resources practices that are successful in the Spanish industrial sector, and in a European manufacturing context, and may guide managers when assigning their firms’ limited resources to the most relevant human resources practices in each particular setting, considering internal characteristics, such as firm age, firm size and trade union power.

The mediating effect of human resource on successful total quality management implementation

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to study the mediating effect of human resource (HR) between independent variables (i.e. leadership and quality culture (QC)) and successful total quality management (TQM) implementation for firm performance as dependent variable.

Design/methodology/approach

– In this paper, the authors have used exploratory factor analysis output as input for mediation statistics. The mediating regression analysis has been performed using exploratory factor analysis based on four steps technique proposed by Baron and Keene in the year 1986 to test the theoretical model.

Findings

– The mediation statistics output suggests that HR is a complete mediation between independent variables (i.e. leadership) and successful TQM implementation for firm performance and QC is having direct impact on firm performance without any mediation effect of HR.

Research limitations/implications

– Mediation regression has its own limitations. Satisfying four steps does not, however, conclusively establish that mediation has occurred and also there persists a measurement problem. The cross-ectional data is one of the present limitation of our present study. While this study was able to provide additional insight into leadership and QC of TQM and its relationship with firm performance, it also revealed areas that would benefit from further research.

Originality/value

– This study provides an insight into leadership together with right QC mediates with HR practices to help successful TQM implementation for firm performance on the basis of survey conducted among Indian manufacturing sector is unique contribution.

Modelling the SCM implementation barriers

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop the relationships among the identified supply chain management barriers (SCMBs) and understand mutual influences of these SCMBs on supply chain implementation. Further, this paper seeks to identify driving and dependent SCMBs using an interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and fuzzy MICMAC (Matrix of Cross-Impact Multiplications Applied to Classification) analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

– The methodology used in the paper is the ISM with a view to evolving mutual relationships among SCMBs. The identified SCMBs have been classified further, based on their driving and dependence power using fuzzy MICMAC analysis.

Findings

– This paper has identified 15 key SCMBs which hinder the successful supply chain management (SCM) implementation in an organization and has developed the relationships among the SCMBs using the ISM methodology. Further, this paper analyses the driving and dependent SCMBs using fuzzy MICMAC analysis. The integrated approach is developed here, as the ISM model provides only binary relationship among SCMBs. The fuzzy MICMAC analysis is adopted here, as it is useful in specific analysis related to driving and the dependence power of SCMBs.

Research limitations/implications

– The weightage for the ISM model development and fuzzy MICMAC is obtained through the judgement of academics and industry experts. Further, validation of the model is necessary through questionnaire survey.

Practical implications

– The identification of SCMBs, ISM model development and fuzzy MICMAC analysis provide academics and managers a macro picture of the challenges posed by the SCM implementation in an organization.

Originality/value

– The results will be useful for business managers to understand the SCMBs and overcome these SCMBs during the SCM implementation in an organization.

The impact of human resource management practices on performance

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices on organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– A total of 300 employees from a public university comprising of both academicians and support staff responded to the survey. The survey questionnaire had 46 items covering selected HRM practices and university performance.

Findings

– The study has found that human resource practices: recruitment, training, performance appraisal, career planning, employee participation, job definition and compensation have a significant relationship with university performance.

Research limitations/implications

– The results come from a cross-sectional study which was done at the convenience of the researcher. The results may not be generalized across the country. The application of the results to other universities must be done with maximum care.

Practical implications

– If the university is to increase its performance to higher levels, it should emphasize more on job definition, training and employee participation. Some improvement needs to be done on the other HRM practices-recruitment, performance appraisal, career planning and compensation in order to increase their effectiveness on the university performance.

Originality/value

– Most studies on impact of HRM practices on firm performance have focussed on private sectors in Malaysia. In other countries, the studies have focussed only on academicians as a sample. This study has attempted to add to the body of knowledge on the impact of HRM practices on university performance in Malaysia combining both the academicians and administration staff.

Effects of a production improvement programme on global quality performance

Purpose

– How can multinational companies become more productive on a global scale? The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a production improvement programme can improve quality performance in a global network of factories. Specifically, the paper analyses the effects of the Volvo Group's production improvement programme on global quality performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– The research approach is a case study of the Volvo Production System (VPS). The paper analyses the effects of the programme on global quality performance, using data from an implementation audit and a questionnaire survey. The paper triangulate the analysis with longitudinal quality performance data from three different plants.

Findings

– The paper finds a significant and strong positive relationship between implementation of the VPS and improvements in both process quality and product quality. Hence, the paper suggests that tailored production improvement programmes have clear positive effects on global quality performance.

Research limitations/implications

– As with all case studies, the paper should use caution when generalising beyond the specific case. However, the Volvo Group is a broad and diversified corporation, which mitigates this limitation.

Originality/value

– While many studies have investigated the effect of production improvement programmes on performance, very few have looked at the effect of a corporate multi-plant programme. This study represents one of the first attempts to do so. The paper also provides a case description of the VPS that readers might find valuable in its own right.