Previous studies reported mixed and ambiguous results of the relationship between TQM practices and performances. This study investigated impacts of TQM practices on various performance measures as well as the reasons and the barriers of the TQM practices of firms in Turkey. We used a cross-sectional survey methodology in this study, and the unit of the sample was at the plant level. The sample was selected from the member firms to Turkish Quality Association and the firms located in the Kocaeli-Gebze Organized Industrial Zone. We obtained 242 usable questionnaires, with a satisfactory response rate of 48.4 percent. We conducted exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. This study has shown that different TQM practices significantly affect different performance outcomes. Results revealed that primary obstacles that the firms in Turkey face were lack of employee involvement, awareness and commitment of the employees, inappropriate firm structure, and lack of the resources. It is recommended that firms should continue implement TQM with all variables to improve performance. Firms should improve employees’ involvement/commitment/awareness to TQM, enhance firm structure, and provide resources to overcome the barriers that prevent effective implementation of TQM practices.
Total quality management (TQM) is a firm-wide management philosophy of continuously improving the quality of the products/services/processes by focusing on the customers’ needs and expectations to enhance customer satisfaction and firm performance. There are mixed results about the relationship between total quality management practices and performance [
A summary of the hypotheses and the related literature showing positive relationships between TQM practices and performance.
Hypothesis | Operational performance | Inventory management performance | Employee performance | Innovation performance | Social responsibility | Customer results | Market and financial performance | Aggregate firm performance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H1: TQM practices |
Demirbag et al., 2006 [ |
cf. Sadikoglu and Zehir, 2010 [ |
Sadikoglu and Zehir, 2010 [ |
Sadikoglu and Zehir, 2010 [ |
Das et al., 2000 [ |
Fuentes et al., 2006 [ |
Kaynak, 2003 [ | |
|
||||||||
H2: Leadership | Samson and Terziovski, 1999 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Samson and Terziovski, 1999 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Parast and |
Adam et al., 1997 [ |
Zu et al., 2008 [ | |
|
||||||||
H3: Knowledge and process management | Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
cf. Sadikoglu and Zehir, 2010 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Parast and Adams, 2012 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Wilson and Collier, 2000 [ |
Zu et al., 2008 [ |
|
||||||||
H4: Training | Kaynak, 2003 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Fuentes et al., 2006 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Das et al., 2000 [ |
Fuentes et al., 2006 [ |
Tari et al., 2007 [ | |
|
||||||||
H5: Supplier quality management | Kannan and Tan, 2005 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Fuentes et al., 2006 [ |
Nair, 2006 [ | |||
|
||||||||
H6: Customer focus | Samson and Terziovski, |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Samson and Terziovski, |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Fuentes et al., 2006 [ |
Chong and Rundus, 2004 [ | |
|
||||||||
H7: Strategic quality planning | Phan et al., 2011 [ |
Obeng and Ugboro, 2008 [ |
Macinati, 2008 [ |
Research with appropriate analytical methodologies and measuring tools can significantly contribute to investigating work on TQM which analyzed reasons of the relationship between TQM practices and performance. The aims of this work are
Most of the previous studies report that overall TQM practices have positively been related to productivity and manufacturing performance [ TQM practices are positively related to performance.
Leaders in a TQM system view the firm as a system; support employee development; establish a multipoint communication among the employees, managers, and customers; and use information efficiently and effectively. In addition, leaders encourage employee participation in decision-making and empower the employees. Top management commitment and participation in TQM practices are the most important factors for the success of TQM practices. Managers should demonstrate more leadership than traditional management behaviors to increase employees’ awareness of quality activities in TQM adoption and practices [
Previous studies have found that leadership improves operational performance [ Leadership is positively related to performance.
Effective knowledge management ensures that employees obtain timely reliable, consistent, accurate, and necessary data and information as they need to do their job effectively and efficiently in the firm. Only in this way, the expected benefits from TQM practices can be achieved. Process management emphasizes activities, as opposed to results, through a set of methodological and behavioral activities. It includes preventive and proactive approaches to quality management to reduce variations in the process and improve the quality of the product (cf. [
Previous studies have found that knowledge, process management, and statistical control/feedback improve operational performance [ Knowledge and process management are positively related to performance.
TQM firms should give necessary training to all their employees to improve their proficiencies in their tasks. Effective training in management and improvement in quality bring success for the firms. Employees’ effective knowledge and learning capability will provide sustainability of quality management in the firm. Furthermore, learning organizations adapt rapidly to the changes and develop unique behavior, which distinguishes them from other firms and enables them to obtain better results. Quality does not begin in one department or function; it is the responsibility of the whole firm. Training should be given to all employees based on the results of the training needs assessment [
With effective training, employees know the industry and the structure of the firm. In addition, effective training will improve employees’ loyalty to the firm, motivation, and work performance. If employees are trained on producing reliable and high quality products and/or services, their full participation in the production stage would be more fruitful. Thus, customer satisfaction will increase and customer complaints will reduce.
Some studies report that training is positively related to operational performance [ Training is positively related to performance.
Supply chain management in TQM implies reducing and streamlining the supplier base to facilitate managing supplier relationships [
Inputs from suppliers constitute the first phase of producing the products and/or services in a firm. High quality inputs provide high quality products and/or services. Therefore, the suppliers should adopt TQM and be involved in this process. Effective supply management practices enable the suppliers to adopt quality management and deliver reliable and high quality products and/or services timely.
Previous studies have found that supplier quality management positively affects operational performance [ Supplier quality management is positively related to performance.
TQM firms focus on serving the external customers. They first should know the customers’ expectations and requirements and then should offer the products/services, accordingly. By the aid of successful customer focus efforts, production can be arranged with respect to the customers’ needs, expectations, and complaints. This encourages firms to produce high quality and reliable products/services on time with increased efficiency and productivity. When customer expectations are met, their satisfaction will be increased, and the firm’s sales and the market share will increase.
Previous studies have found that customer focus positively affects operational performance [ Customer focus is positively related to performance.
Strategic quality planning includes vision, mission, and values of the firms. They are formed by taking into account the quality concept. With effective strategic quality planning efforts employees are taken as an input in developing the vision, mission, strategies, and objectives. This facilitates acceptance and support of strategic quality plans by the employees. Successful strategic quality planning efforts also take into account the possible side effects of the plan to the environment prior to the production. This will manifest and improve social responsibility of the firm.
Previous studies have found that strategic quality planning is positively associated with operational performance, inventory management performance [ Strategic quality planning is positively related to performance.
Figure
The proposed research model of the relationship between TQM practices and performance measures.
The reason of implementing TQM practices is improving customer satisfaction, quality of products and/or services, productivity, capacity of the production line, employee performance, quality-of-work-life, market share, and competitive position. Another reason is reducing production development time, waste of inventory, work in process, cost, delivery times, employee turnover, and complaints [
Barriers to TQM practices.
The main barriers to TQM practices | References |
---|---|
Failure to incorporate quality management to all departments |
Harris, 1995 [ |
|
|
Resistance of the workforce; inadequate use of empowerment and teamwork; failure to develop employee participation | Harris, 1995 [ |
|
|
Lack of proper training and preparation | Whalen and Rahim, 1994 [ |
|
|
Inappropriate supervisory structure or culture of the firm for implementing TQM | Whalen et al., 1994 [ |
|
|
Lack of involvement and commitment of top management |
Baillie 1986 [ |
|
|
Lack of understanding of TQM; inappropriately adopting TQM to the organization | Smith et al., 1994 [ |
|
|
Managers’ resistance to learn and change | Smith et al., 1994 [ |
|
|
Inability to build a learning organization that provides for continuous improvement | Masters, 1996 [ |
|
|
Poor planning | Whalen and Rahim, 1994 [ |
|
|
Insufficient resources provided | Whalen and Rahim, 1994 [ |
|
|
Ineffective measurement of quality improvement and lack of access to data and results | Whalen and Rahim, 1994 [ |
|
|
Inappropriate reward system | Masters, 1996 [ |
|
|
Short-term focus or using a Band-Aid solution | Masters, 1996 [ |
|
|
Paying inadequate attention to internal and external customers | Masters, 1996 [ |
|
|
Downsizing | McCabe and Wilkinson, 1998 [ |
We decided on leadership, knowledge management, training, supplier quality management, customer focus, strategic quality planning, continuous improvement, employee involvement, and process management as the factors of TQM practices based on the literature review. We also included multiple performance factors, namely, operational performance, inventory management performance, employee performance, innovation performance, social responsibility, customer results, and market and financial performance, to cover all aspects of firm performance. Furthermore, the TQM index, which was developed by Sadikoglu and Zehir [
We used a cross-sectional survey methodology in this study, and the unit of the sample was at the plant level. The sample was selected from the member firms of Turkish Quality Association and the firms located in the Kocaeli-Gebze Organized Industrial Zone. The members of the Quality Association were more likely to excel in TQM practices and to have ISO certification. We sent questionnaires to 500 firms in 2010.
We refined the questionnaire based on the comments taken from the company representatives (respondents), managers, and academicians. We also revised the questionnaire after conducting a pilot study and taking feedback from the respondents to make it simple, clear, understandable, and easy-to-follow. We asked the respondents about their firm’s performance data based on the last three years’ period with respect to their major competitor in the industry. We promised confidentiality, and we did not ask for the names of the respondents to improve accuracy of responses and response rate. Furthermore, we agreed on sending the final firm profile to the firms that participated in the survey, on request, to obtain a high response rate. We administered the questionnaires with the guidelines of the follow-up stages given by Saunders et al. [
We conducted EFA to establish factorial validity and to confirm whether or not the theorized dimensions emerge. EFA analysis showed that the factors were logic and reflected accurately what was intended to be measured. We used principle components extraction with varimax rotation to identify factors with eigenvalues of at least one in order to obtain more easily interpreted factor loadings. We performed a bivariate correlation analysis to identify the correlation of TQM factors with each other and with the measures of firm performances. We used multiple regression analysis for each performance measure to figure out the relationship between TQM practices and performance. The TQM index equals the aggregate of all TQM factors [
Table
Demographic profiles of the respondents.
Sector | |
Private | 217 (91.2%)* |
Public | 21 (8.8%) |
Scope of operation | |
Regional | 23 (9.7%) |
National | 35 (14.8%) |
International | 101 (42.8%) |
Global | 77 (32.7%) |
Industry | |
Manufacturing (74.7%) | |
Electronics and metallurgy | 59 (24.9%) |
Automotive | 45 (19.0%) |
Construction | 29 (12.2%) |
Chemistry | 18 (7.6%) |
Textile | 16 (6.8) |
Plastics | 6 (2.5%) |
Food | 4 (1.7%) |
Service (25.3%) | |
Logistics | 16 (6.8%) |
Municipality | 9 (3.8%) |
Education | 8 (3.4%) |
Healthcare | 8 (3.4%) |
Telecommunication | 8 (3.4%) |
Research and development | 5 (2.1%) |
Environment | 3 (1.3%) |
Tourism | 2 (0.8%) |
Finance | 1 (0.4%) |
Number of employees | |
Small (less than 100) | 56 (25.3%) |
Medium (between 100 and 250) | 48 (21.7%) |
Large (more than 250) | 117 (53.0%) |
Job title | |
Senior manager (top manager, vice manager) | 27 (11.6%) |
Middle manager | 125 (53.9%) |
Quality manager | 102 (44.0%) |
Sales and marketing manager | 4 (1.7%) |
Production manager | 3 (1.3%) |
Human resources manager | 3 (1.3%) |
Finance and accounting manager | 1 (0.4%) |
Other manager | 12 (5.2%) |
Low-level manager | 63 (27.2%) |
Nonmanager (engineer or technician) | 17 (7.3%) |
Existence of ISO certification | |
Yes | 202 (92.2%) |
No | 17 (7.8%) |
Existence of quality awards | |
Yes | 144 (64.0%) |
No | 81 (36.0%) |
Existence of firm awards | |
Yes | 35 (16.0%) |
No | 184 (84.0%) |
We performed EFA for TQM practices and performance measures separately. After EFA and reliability analysis, the final measurement instrument included 31 TQM items and 27 performance measurement items. As clearly noticed from Tables
Rotated factor matrix of the TQM practices.
Variables | Factor loadings | Percentage variance explained by factor | Percentage total variance explained | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Item number 1 | Item number 2 | Item number 3 | Item number 4 | Item number 5 | Item number 6 | Item number 7 | Eigen value | |||
Leadership | 0.75 | 0.56 | 0.58 | — | — | — | — | 2.09 | 6.74 | 6.74 |
Knowledge and process management | 0.56 | 0.58 | 0.62 | 0.53 | 0.68 | 0.66 | 0.59 | 4.10 | 13.22 | 19.96 |
Training | 0.57 | 0.80 | 0.68 | 0.60 | 0.55 | — | — | 3.01 | 9.72 | 29.68 |
Supplier quality management | 0.56 | 0.65 | 0.67 | 0.75 | 0.72 | — | — | 3.49 | 11.27 | 40.95 |
Customer focus | 0.82 | 0.79 | 0.61 | 0.56 | 0.60 | 0.52 | — | 3.81 | 12.29 | 53.24 |
Strategic quality planning | 0.66 | 0.56 | 0.67 | 0.79 | 0.71 | — | — | 3.69 | 11.90 | 65.14 |
Rotated factor matrix of the firm performances.
Variables | Factor loadings | Percentage variance explained by factor | Percentage total variance explained | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Item number 1 | Item number 2 | Item number 3 | Item number 4 | Item number 5 | Eigen value | |||
Operational performance | 0.83 | 0.83 | 0.63 | — | — | 2.55 | 9.46 | 9.46 |
Inventory management performance | 0.85 | 0.88 | — | — | — | 2.01 | 7.42 | 16.88 |
Employee performance | 0.76 | 0.71 | 0.76 | 0.78 | 0.70 | 3.46 | 12.80 | 29.68 |
Innovation performance | 0.68 | 0.77 | 0.80 | 0.77 | 0.78 | 3.54 | 13.12 | 42.80 |
Social responsibility | 0.82 | 0.82 | 0.81 | 0.73 | 0.74 | 3.73 | 13.83 | 56.63 |
Customer results | 0.66 | 0.72 | 0.54 | — | — | 1.86 | 6.89 | 63.52 |
Market and financial performance | 0.75 | 0.81 | 0.85 | 0.84 | — | 3.27 | 12.11 | 75.63 |
Table
Descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha, and bivariate correlation for the variables in the research model*.
Variables | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Mean | S.D. | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Leadership | 0.77 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4.18 | 0.72 |
2 | Knowledge and process management | 0.64 | 0.87 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4.05 | 0.68 |
3 | Training | 0.55 | 0.65 | 0.81 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4.07 | 0.63 |
4 | Supplier quality management | 0.56 | 0.63 | 0.56 | 0.84 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 3.46 | 0.82 | |
5 | Customer focus | 0.53 | 0.62 | 0.57 | 0.59 | 0.86 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4.42 | 0.58 |
6 | Strategic quality planning | 0.63 | 0.66 | 0.60 | 0.58 | 0.66 | 0.90 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4.21 | 0.70 |
7 | Operational performance | 0.41 | 0.43 | 0.46 | 0.39 | 0.48 | 0.42 | 0.86 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4.49 | 0.53 |
8 | Inventory management performance | 0.23 | 0.50 | 0.37 | 0.40 | 0.30 | 0.28 | 0.37 | 0.90 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4.01 | 0.83 |
9 | Employee performance | 0.50 | 0.45 | 0.55 | 0.45 | 0.42 | 0.56 | 0.49 | 0.36 | 0.87 | — | — | — | — | — | 4.02 | 0.71 |
10 | Innovation performance | 0.28 | 0.43 | 0.33 | 0.35 | 0.36 | 0.31 | 0.49 | 0.41 | 0.45 | 0.88 | — | — | — | — | 4.09 | 0.74 |
11 | Social |
0.51 | 0.60 | 0.50 | 0.58 | 0.50 | 0.60 | 0.42 | 0.36 | 0.51 | 0.47 | 0.90 | — | — | — | 4.27 | 0.73 |
12 | Customer results | 0.40 | 0.46 | 0.47 | 0.41 | 0.50 | 0.46 | 0.66 | 0.40 | 0.60 | 0.51 | 0.45 | 0.81 | — | — | 4.40 | 0.59 |
13 | Market and financial performance | 0.35 | 0.51 | 0.37 | 0.34 | 0.51 | 0.33 | 0.41 | 0.43 | 0.34 | 0.43 | 0.44 | 0.47 | 0.90 | — | 4.16 | 0.72 |
14 | TQM index | 0.80 | 0.86 | 0.80 | 0.82 | 0.79 | 0.84 | 0.52 | 0.43 | 0.60 | 0.42 | 0.67 | 0.55 | 0.49 | 0.90 | 4.07 | 0.56 |
As presented in Table
Correlation coefficients values of independent variables are less than 0.8 (Table
Table
The results of the regression analysis between TQM index and performance measures.
Dependent variable: performance | Independent variable: TQM index | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Result |
|
| |
Regression 1 | ||||||
Operational performance | 0.52 | 9.45 | 0.00 | Significant | 0.27 | 89.37 |
Regression 2 | ||||||
Inventory management performance | 0.41 | 6.88 | 0.00 | Significant | 0.17 | 47.37 |
Regression 3 | ||||||
Employee performance | 0.60 | 11.51 | 0.00 | Significant | 0.35 | 132.47 |
Regression 4 | ||||||
Innovation performance | 0.42 | 7.03 | 0.00 | Significant | 0.17 | 49.39 |
Regression 5 | ||||||
Social responsibility | 0.67 | 13.81 | 0.00 | Significant | 0.44 | 190.84 |
Regression 6 | ||||||
Customer results | 0.55 | 10.11 | 0.00 | Significant | 0.30 | 102.28 |
Regression 7 | ||||||
Market and financial performance | 0.48 | 8.28 | 0.00 | Significant | 0.22 | 68.53 |
All regressions are significant at the
Tables
The result of the regression analysis between TQM practices and operational performance.
Independent variables |
Dependent variable: | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Result | |
Leadership | 0.11 | 1.40 | 0.16 | Insignificant |
Knowledge and process management | 0.03 | 0.39 | 0.70 | Insignificant |
Training | 0.21 | 2.73 | 0.01 |
|
Supplier quality management | 0.02 | 0.32 | 0.75 | Insignificant |
Customer focus | 0.26 | 3.21 | 0.00 |
|
Strategic quality planning | 0.01 | 0.16 | 0.88 | Insignificant |
The result of the regression analysis between TQM practices and inventory management performance.
Independent variables |
Dependent variable: | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Result | |
Leadership | −0.19 | −2.40 | 0.02 | Insignificant |
Knowledge and process management | 0.51 | 5.63 | 0.00 |
|
Training | 0.10 | 1.21 | 0.23 | Insignificant |
Supplier quality management | 0.18 | 2.35 | 0.02 | Insignificant |
Customer focus | −0.01 | −0.14 | 0.89 | Insignificant |
Strategic quality planning | −0.10 | −1.18 | 0.24 | Insignificant |
The result of the regression analysis between TQM practices and employee performance.
Independent variables |
Dependent variable: | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Result | |
Leadership | 0.17 | 2.31 | 0.02 | Insignificant |
Knowledge and process management | −0.09 | −1.15 | 0.25 | Insignificant |
Training | 0.30 | 4.22 | 0.00 |
|
Supplier quality management | 0.08 | 1.18 | 0.24 | Insignificant |
Customer focus | −0.36 | −0.49 | 0.62 | Insignificant |
Strategic quality planning | 0.31 | 3.93 | 0.00 |
|
The result of the regression analysis between TQM practices and innovation performance.
Independent variables |
Dependent variable: | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Result | |
Leadership | −0.04 | −0.50 | 0.62 | Insignificant |
Knowledge and process management | 0.30 | 3.18 | 0.00 |
|
Training | 0.04 | 0.47 | 0.64 | Insignificant |
Supplier quality management | 0.10 | 1.25 | 0.21 | Insignificant |
Customer focus | 0.13 | 1.59 | 0.11 | Insignificant |
Strategic quality planning | −0.04 | −0.38 | 0.70 | Insignificant |
The result of the regression analysis between TQM practices and social responsibility.
Independent variables |
Dependent variable: | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Result | |
Leadership | 0.04 | 0.53 | 0.60 | Insignificant |
Knowledge and process management | 0.20 | 2.64 | 0.01 |
|
Training | 0.04 | 0.53 | 0.60 | Insignificant |
Supplier quality management | 0.25 | 3.64 | 0.00 |
|
Customer focus | 0.01 | 0.07 | 0.94 | Insignificant |
Strategic quality planning | 0.28 | 3.69 | 0.00 |
|
The result of the regression analysis between TQM practices and customer results.
Independent variables |
Dependent variable: | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Result | |
Leadership | 0.05 | 0.61 | 0.54 | Insignificant |
Knowledge and process management | 0.07 | 0.80 | 0.42 | Insignificant |
Training | 0.18 | 2.30 | 0.02 |
|
Supplier quality management | 0.04 | 0.53 | 0.60 | Insignificant |
Customer focus | 0.25 | 3.20 | 0.00 |
|
Strategic quality planning | 0.09 | 1.07 | 0.28 | Insignificant |
The result of the regression analysis between TQM practices and market and financial performance.
Independent variables |
Dependent variable: | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Result | |
Leadership | 0.02 | 0.26 | 0.80 | Insignificant |
Knowledge and process management | 0.38 | 4.40 | 0.00 |
|
Training | 0.02 | 0.25 | 0.80 | Insignificant |
Supplier quality management | −0.06 | −0.80 | 0.42 | Insignificant |
Customer focus | 0.40 | 5.13 | 0.00 |
|
Strategic quality planning | −0.17 | −2.06 | 0.04 | Insignificant |
Table
Frequency distribution of the reasons of TQM practices of firms.
The reasons of TQM practices | Frequency | Percentage (%) |
---|---|---|
Improving operational performance | 160 | 34.2 |
Improving customer satisfaction and portfolio | 103 | 22.0 |
Increasing market and financial performance | 95 | 20.3 |
Supporting continuous improvement and innovations | 54 | 11.5 |
Enhancing employees’ performance and participation | 49 | 10.5 |
Improving social responsibilities of the firm | 7 | 1.5 |
Frequency distribution of the barriers of the TQM practices.
Frequency | Percentage (%) | |
---|---|---|
Lack of employee involvement | 82 | 24.7 |
Inadequacy of the firm structure and lack of the resources | 61 | 18.4 |
Illiteracy and unawareness among the employees | 51 | 15.4 |
Constraints of the industry/market | 38 | 11.5 |
Inaccuracy and assessment difficulty in the process planning | 33 | 9.9 |
Inadequacy in the leadership comprehension | 27 | 8.1 |
Lack of understanding the importance of continuous improvement | 13 | 3.9 |
Discrepancies among customers’ expectations | 10 | 3.0 |
Difficulty in the TQM structure | 10 | 3.0 |
Lack of the suppliers’ support | 7 | 2.1 |
The study has found that TQM index is positively related to all performance measures. TQM practices, in general, improve performance of the firm. Moreover, the study has found that different TQM practices significantly affect different outcomes. Although leadership is not significantly related to any performance measures, knowledge and process management practices are positively related to inventory management performance, innovation performance, social responsibility, and market and financial performance.
Knowledge and process management practice is the only TQM factor that directly and positively affects inventory management performance and innovation performance (Tables
It has been found that training is positively related to operational performance, employee performance, and customer results. Allocating firm resources to training on quality pays off as professional employees know advanced statistical techniques, concepts of quality, basic characteristics of their industry, and the structure and processes of the firm. Furthermore, treating employees as a valuable resource increases their loyalty to the firm, motivates them and makes them proud of their jobs, improves their work-related performances, decreases absenteeism, and reduces intentions to quit. Educated employees will increase quality, reliability, and timely delivery of the products/services. With effective training, employees know the industry and the structure of the firm better. Effective training on quality also increases employees’ skills to work effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, it will improve employees’ loyalty to the firm, their motivation, and work-related performances. Employees’ training on delivering high quality and reliable products and/or services reduces customer complaints.
It has been found that supplier quality management is positively related to social responsibility. A firm cannot contribute to the society effectively without the collaboration among the supply chain partners. All partners in the supply chain should comprehend the effect of their products/services on the health of the society and environment. When suppliers have quality management systems, they are evaluated with respect to quality and delivery performance and participate in quality training, process improvement, and the new product development process. The synergy among the whole supply chain will make a sense of responsibility of the society so that each partner tries to do their best to protect the environment and reduce noise and pollution. This allows the firm to carry out social responsibility projects for the society with more effective and efficient manner.
Customer focus is the only TQM variable that significantly directly increases customer results (Table
It has been found that strategic quality planning is positively related to employee performance and social responsibility. If the employees’ opinions are taken into consideration in developing the mission, strategy, and objectives of the firm, the employees will support them. Thus, the employees feel like they belong to the firm and work hard with a high degree of motivation to achieve companies’ objectives. As a result, their absenteeism and intention to leave the firm will be low. Society is concerned about the conservation of the environment, and it gives credit to the firms which contribute to environmental protection. If a firm develops its strategies on quality and organizational objectives by considering its possible side effects to the environment and living standards of the society, the firm can reduce or eliminate pollution and noise, protect the environment, and gain a positive image in the society.
The results suggest that firms implement TQM for the purpose of improving operational performance, enhancing customer satisfaction and portfolio, and increasing market and financial performance which are the primary reasons of TQM practices (Table
As given in Table
The positive relationship between TQM and performance measures shows the importance of each of these practices to improve sustainability. The reasons of TQM implantations and ISO certification may guide managers on how to motivate employees in these applications in order to improve firm performance. Discovering the barriers to TQM can be used for the firms who are in the planning or early stages of TQM practices to improve awareness and understanding of its principles. They can also be used for the firms who have already used TQM for some time to assess the progress and to improve their organizations [
Continuous improvement and employee involvement are the major tenets of TQM practices. These factors can be included in future studies. Insignificant relationship between leadership and performance can indicate existence of indirect relationship or any other relationship that is nonlinear. Insignificant relationship between some TQM variables and performance may imply mediational relationship among TQM practices. There may also be some mediational relationships among various performance measures. Mediational or indirect relationships among TQM practices and multiple performance measures can be investigated. The relationship between TQM practices and the various performance measures can be investigated in other countries and industries. Enterprise resource planning, ISO certification, firm age, and firm size can also be included as moderating variables in future studies. The reasons of and the barriers to TQM practices and the reasons of having ISO certification may be different in other countries and industries so that a comparative study can be conducted to investigate these parameters.
The study used subjective measures of performance which may not give accurate information to test the hypotheses. However, we compared the firms in different industries by using subjective measurements. Furthermore, the study asked for perceived data about actual TQM practices and performance measures, but the respondents might have given desired data, which made their firms look good. About 7 percent of the respondents were nonmanagers, who might not understand and answer the questions accurately. In addition, the firms were the members of Quality Association and/or located in the Marmara Region. This would raise concerns about generalizability, reliability, and validity of the study. On the other hand, we did not ask for the names of the firms and respondents which caused which firms belong to which sector. Anonymity of the firm and respondent in the survey may improve accuracy and completeness of the responses. We used average of two responses for each firm to reduce common method variance. Also, none of the repeating items in the questionnaire of the responses were different than
TQM is a holistic and ethical approach of the firms to continuously improve their products/services or processes involving all stakeholders in order to satisfy their customers and to improve performance and sustainability. The results give that overall TQM practices improve all performance measures. Leadership does not affect performance. This is supported by the results of Choi and Eboch [
It can be concluded that TQM practices improve various performance measures in the firms. All aspects of TQM practices should be effectively managed in a firm because each factor in TQM practices improves different aspects of firm performance. The synergy among the TQM factors brings about exceptional or crucial improvements in the firm performances. Firms should improve employee involvement/skill and firm structure and allocate sufficient resources to implement TQM successfully.
Only the items that remained after the reliability tests and EFA are given in the appendix. The sources of each item in the questionnaire are given in the parenthesis at the end of the related item.
Organizational top management (senior executives and supervisors) views improvement in quality as a way to increase profits [
Organizational top management has objectives for quality performance [
Organizational top management is evaluated for quality performance [
Our firm has an effective performance measurement system to track overall organizational performance [
Quality data (error rates, defect rates, scrap, defects, rework rates, cost of quality, etc.) are available [
Timely firm performance data are always available [
We design processes in our firm to be “mistake-proof” to minimize the changes of errors [
We make extensive use of statistical techniques to reduce variation in processes [
We give clear, comprehensive, and standardized documentation about work methods and process instructions to employees [
A large amount of the equipment on the shop floor is currently under statistical process control [
Training in advanced statistical techniques is given to the employees who need training [
Our employees possess sufficient knowledge of the basic aspects of our sector [
Our employees understand the basic processes used to make our products/services [
Managers and supervisors participate in specialist training [
Resources are available for employee quality training in our firm [
Our suppliers have an effective system to ensure quality of their products and/or services [
We emphasize quality and delivery performance rather than price in selecting suppliers [
Our suppliers are involved in our quality training [
We work closely with suppliers to improve each other’s processes [
Our suppliers are actively involved in our new product development process [
We frequently are in close contact with our customers [
We actively and regularly seek customer inputs to identify their needs and expectations [
We inform customers’ current and future needs and expectations to our employees effectively [
Our customers give us feedback on quality and delivery performance [
Customer complaints are used as input to improve our processes [
We measure customer satisfaction systematically and regularly [
We have a mission statement which has been communicated throughout the firm and is supported by our employees [
We develop and implement our strategies and plans based on data concerning customers’ requirements and the firm’s capabilities [
The management communicates its strategy and objectives to the staff [
Customers’ needs are taken into account when establishing objectives [
Our quality strategies affect all organizational areas and managerial activities [
Quality of our products/services is high [
Reliability of our products/services is high [
We deliver our products/services on time to customers [
Purchase material turnover is high in our firm [
Total inventory turnover is high in our firm [
Our employees’ organizational commitment is high [
Our employees’ job performance is high [
Our employees’ absenteeism is low [
Our employees’ morale is high [
Our employees’ turnover rate is low [
The number of successful new product/service introductions of our firm is high [
The use of latest technological innovations in our new product is high [
The technological competitiveness of our firm is high [
The speed of new product development of our firm is high [
The number of our new products that are first-to-market is high [
Protection of environment in our firm has developed [
Noise levels caused by our firm have decreased [
Pollution levels caused by our firm have decreased [
Our firm has a positive impact on society [
Our firm is actively involved in the community [
Customer satisfaction has improved [
Customer retention has improved [
Customer complaints have decreased [
Return on assets of our firm has increased [
Market share of our firm has improved [
Profits of our firm have grown [
Sales of our firm have grown [
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.