Title: Are soft practices important for quality improvement?

Authors: Muhammad Madi Bin Abdullah; Juan José Tarí

Addresses: Faculty of Management, Multimedia University (MMU) Malaysia, Persiaran Multimedia, 63100 Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia ' Department of Business Management, University of Alicante, P.O. Box 99, E-03080 Alicante, Spain

Abstract: This study examines the influence of six selected soft practices (management commitment, employee empowerment, training, reward and recognition, customer focus, and supplier management) on quality improvement (QI) within 255 Malaysian electrical and electronics (E&E) firms. It uses regression and correlation analysis to test these relationships. The results reveal that management commitment, employee empowerment, training, reward and recognition, customer focus, and supplier management are significantly and positively associated with QI in the firms studied. Also employee empowerment was perceived as the dominant soft practice for QI. Employee empowerment is associated with significant increases in QI. This study contributes to a better understanding of the influence of soft practices on organisational QI among firms within the context of the Malaysian E&E sector. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: soft practices; Malaysia; electrical and electronics industry; quality improvement; total quality management; TQM; management commitment; customer focus; employee empowerment; training; reward and recognition; supplier management.

DOI: 10.1504/JGBA.2013.053566

Journal for Global Business Advancement, 2013 Vol.6 No.2, pp.78 - 91

Published online: 01 May 2013 *

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