TQM as a Focus for Improving Overall Service Performance and Customer Satisfaction: an Empirical Study on a Public Service Sector in Malaysia

This paper is based on the result of a TQM study aimed at identifying the relationship between TQM and overall performance as well as the strength of their manifest indicators. Several studies have proven that TQM practices have a significantly positive impact on organizational performances. This study sought to enhance the understandings of relationships between TQM practices and the overall performance of a public service sector in Malaysia. Statistical methods include reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and a structural equation modelling. The results of this study highlight strong and positive association between TQM, overall service performance and customer satisfaction and suggest that an emphasis on quality would result in organizational gains. The findings suggest that employee focus is a very important factor in TQM implementations followed by training, customer focus, benchmarking and top management commitment. The results also exhibit the unique contribution of TQM towards service performance and customer satisfaction.

[1]  Sanjay L. Ahire,et al.  Development and Validation of TQM Implementation Constructs , 1996 .

[2]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  LISREL 7: A guide to the program and applications , 1988 .

[3]  Emmanuel U Opara.  The empirical test of total quality management : an application of TQM at Chevron and its impact on productivity , 1996 .

[4]  M. A. A. Cox,et al.  Total quality management in financial services: Beyond the fashion the reality has to take off , 1997 .

[5]  R. Mueller.  Basic Principles of Structural Equation Modeling: An Introduction to LISREL and EQS , 1996 .

[6]  G. K. Stephens,et al.  Doing business in Mexico: Understanding cultural differences , 1995 .

[7]  T. C. Powell.  Total Quality Management as Competitive Advantage , 1995 .

[8]  Kenneth R. Tillery,et al.  Quality‐Strategy and Quality‐Management Connections , 1991 .

[9]  Paul Goodstadt,et al.  Quality Service at National Westminster Bank ‐ The Continual Striving for Excellence , 1990 .

[10]  R. Schaffer,et al.  Successful change programs begin with results. , 1992, Harvard business review.

[11]  Gilbert A. Churchill.  A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs , 1979 .

[12]  Donald R. Brown,et al.  An Experiential Approach to Organization Development , 1976 .

[13]  Edward E. Lawler,et al.  Total quality-oriented human resources management , 1992 .

[14]  L. Cronbach.  Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests , 1951 .

[15]  Richard P. Bagozzi,et al.  Assessing Construct Validity in Organizational Research , 1991 .

[16]  S. Snell,et al.  Integrated Manufacturing and Human Resource Management: A Human Capital Perspective , 1992 .

[17]  Toyohiro Kono,et al.  Success through culture change in a Japanese brewery , 1989 .

[18]  Maling Ebrahimpour,et al.  Employee involvement in quality improvement: a comparison of American and Japanese manufacturing firms operating in the US , 1992 .

[19]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Measuring And Assessing Organizations , 1980 .

[20]  L. Tucker,et al.  A reliability coefficient for maximum likelihood factor analysis , 1973 .