Title: The importance of soft factors for quality improvement and organisational performance

Authors: Muhammad Madi Bin Abdullah, Jegak Uli, Juan Jose Tari

Addresses: Department of Management and Services, College of Science and Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia International Campus, Jalan Semarak, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ' Department of Professional Development and Continuing Education, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. ' Department of Business Management, University of Alicante, P.O. Box 99, E-03080 Alicante, Spain

Abstract: The aim of this paper is, firstly, to examine the relationships between the soft factors, quality improvement and organisational performance and secondly, advanced the study by examining quality improvement as an organisational development practice in mediating the relationship between soft factors and organisational performance in 255 Malaysia|s electrical and electronics (E&E) firms. Structural equation modelling statistical technique was used to test the theoretical model. The findings showed that the quality improvement variable did mediate the relationships between all the six soft factors and organisational performance in the sampled E&E firms. Findings also highlight the relationship between soft factors, quality improvement and organisational performance.

Keywords: soft factors; quality management; quality improvement; organisational performance; Malaysia; electrical and electronics industry; structural equation modelling; top management leadership; employee involvement; employee empowerment; employee training; teamwork; communication.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2009.023702

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2009 Vol.4 No.3, pp.366 - 382

Published online: 08 Mar 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article