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The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between quality management (QM) and performance, specifically how the infrastructure and core QM practices affect quality and business performance, in Indian manufacturing organizations.

In this study, the empirical data were drawn from 262 manufacturing organizations in India. The research model was tested using the structural equation modeling technique.

The findings of the empirical study revealed that infrastructure QM practices have a positive effect on core QM practices and indirectly on quality performance, whereas, core QM practices have a positive effect on quality performance. Also, quality performance has a positive effect on business performance.

This study considered QM from two dimensions (infrastructure and core quality practices), the study further contributes to the understanding of the different roles played by diverse QM dimensions in determining business performance in terms of increased return on investment, shareholder and stakeholder value.

The study showed that infrastructure quality practices support the application of core quality practices. Therefore, managers must develop and maintain their organization’s quality system and sufficient resources need to be allocated to both types of practices in order to achieve the superior business performance.

This study considers both total quality management and Six Sigma practices for defining a new set of infrastructure and core QM practices in Indian manufacturing organizations.

This empirical study seeks to resolve the conflicting findings in the quality management (QM) literature about how different QM practices, specifically, infrastructure QM practices and core QM practices, affect quality performance.

Based on the Socio‐Technical Systems theory and research related to QM implementation and performance, the study proposes a research model of the relationship between infrastructure and core QM practices and their direct and indirect effects on quality performance. The empirical data were drawn from 226 manufacturing plants in the USA. The research model was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM) technique.

In the structural model, two integrated factors were used to represent the two types of QM practices: the infrastructure QM includes top management support, customer relationship, and supplier relationship, and workforce management; and the core QM consists of quality information, product/service design, and process management. The analysis of the structure model shows that the core QM directly leads to improved quality performance, and the infrastructure QM contributes to quality performance by supporting the core QM.

The study examines the roles of infrastructure QM practices and core QM practices in improving quality performance. It confirms that QM should be implemented as an integrated approach of different practices.

The major implication of the study is that both core and infrastructure QM practices are important in improving quality. It is important that companies allocate resources to establish both types of QM practices in order to achieve the effectiveness of the whole QM system.

The study utilized the SEM technique to empirically investigate the direct and indirect effects of infrastructure QM practices and core QM practices on quality performance. The SEM results help to clarify the mixed findings in the literature regarding the pattern of the QM practices‐performance relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a scale for infrastructure and core practices, including total quality management (TQM) and Six Sigma practices, in the Indian manufacturing organizations.

In this study, a psychometric systematic scale development procedure has been adopted and executed, which includes three phases. Phase 1 includes item generation and selection through expert opinion. In Phase 2, scale refinement using item analysis, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and convergent and discriminant validity have been carried out. Finally, in Phase 3, scale validation through the replication of CFA and nomological validity assessment has been conducted. Also, a higher order measurement and structural model has been used to assess predictive validity of infrastructure and core practices.

The findings of the empirical study resulted in a 45-item scale that measures Infrastructure practices (top management commitment, workforce management, supplier relationship, customer relationship management, Six Sigma role structure) and core practices (process management, product/service design, quality information and analysis, Six Sigma metric, Six Sigma structure), considering both TQM and Six Sigma practices. Also, the higher order predictive validity assessment model suggested that core practices have a higher impact on quality performance than infrastructure practices.

This study considered TQM and Six Sigma practices for defining infrastructure and core practices. However, future studies may include other quality tools in infrastructure and core quality practices such as Lean, Kaizen, and others in the measurement model to get more concrete results.

This reliable and valid scale will help managers measure the level of QM in order to enhance business performance.

This study symbolizes a first-time attempt for developing a validated tool to measure infrastructure and core practices in the Indian manufacturing organizations.

This study aims to examine the effects of leadership behaviors on quality management (QM) practices and their effects on quality performance of manufacturing companies in Thailand. The hypotheses were that leadership leads to infrastructure practices, which in turn support quality practices. These quality practices improve quality performance. This was tested using a structural equation model. In general, the model was supported although all of the individual practices examined here were not statistically significant.

A survey of quality managers of firms located within Thailand was conducted and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to determine how leadership affected quality practices which in turn affected quality performance. The interactions of leadership with infrastructure and core variables were tested and found to be insignificant.

The SEM established that leadership behaviors supported one infrastructure practice – human resource management, which in turn supported one core QM practice – statistical process control. While six dimensions of transformational and two dimensions of transactional analysis were tested, only two dimensions of transformational and one dimension of transactional leadership were retained. However, these did load onto one leadership second‐order factor. The interactions of leadership with infrastructure and core practices were not significant. The core practices significantly affected three quality performance measures – product returns, product rework and scrap levels.

Further investigation is needed to understand how the Thai culture affects the use of quality practices. Since there was only one respondent per company, the study needs additional validation. Further investigation of the transformational and transactional leadership constructs is necessary.

This suggests to international managers that many of the quality techniques are useful in both developing countries and developed countries. It also suggests that transactional leadership was more effective than prior literature expected it be.

This paper demonstrates that leadership in Thailand is important to the implementation of quality practices. The findings indicate that leadership is an important component of QM and affects infrastructure practices which in turn affect core quality practices. Finally, these core practices affect quality performance. This confirms prior QM models. A major finding is the importance of the contingent punishment dimension of transactional leadership. The confirmatory factor analysis suggests that the individual dimensions of transformational and transactional leadership are not reliable as currently operationalized and further work is needed to develop reliable leadership scales.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between quality management practices and their impact on performance.

First, critical quality management practices are identified and classified in three main categories: management, infrastructure, and core practices. Then, a model linking these practices and performance is proposed and empirically tested. The empirical data were obtained from a survey of 133 Tunisian companies from the plastic transforming sector.

The results reveal a positive relationship between quality management practices and organizational performance. Moreover, the findings show a significant relationship between management and infrastructure practices. In addition, the results illustrate a direct effect of infrastructure practices on operational performance and of core practices on product quality.

The conceptual model proposed and tested in this study can be used by researchers for developing quality management theory. In addition, this model may offer a flow chart to practitioners for effective quality management implementation.

The proposed model is the first one to distinguish the direct effects of infrastructure practices on performance from the indirect effects of these practices through the core practices. Besides, the use of path analysis method to study the direct and indirect relationships between quality management practices and their effect on performance dimensions.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the organizational culture (OC) of the competing values framework (CVF) on quality management (QM) practices. Specifically, it tests OC on two views, QM practices, i.e. the infrastructure quality and core QM practices.

The proposed hypotheses were tested using empirical data drawn from 262 manufacturing organizations in India. The research model developed was analyzed using structural equation modeling technique.

The findings of this study revealed that the hierarchical and rational cultures are the dominant types of culture, and top management commitment and Six Sigma structure are the most important aspects of the infrastructure and core QM practices in Indian manufacturing organizations. Further, the results of the study showed that group culture and development culture are the most supportive culture types for both infrastructure and core QM practices. On the contrary, hierarchical and rational culture types are the least supportive for infrastructure and core QM practices. The study proposes the need for the mixed culture approach that facilitates the adoption of business strategies

Before implementing infrastructure and core QM practices, managers must understand the importance of cultural values in their organization to facilitate effective implementation of QM.

This paper contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence leading to the relationship between OC and QM practices. This is the first study that empirically examined the Indian cultural context using CVF, thus contributing to the scarce body of literature particularly in the developing countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how quality culture influences the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and secondary school students’ perceived service quality (PSQ).

The authors underpin research to analyse the effect of quality culture and TQM practices on PSQ. The sample included questionnaires completed by 268 teachers and 559 students from 56 secondary schools in the Murcia Region (Spain). The proposed model comprises an exogenous construct (quality culture) and three endogenous ones (two constructs represent the TQM model’s infrastructure practices and core practices, whereas one represents PSQ), and specifies the relations among them. The authors used the variance-based structural equation modeling technique and the partial least squares estimation method to test the hypotheses.

Its empirical analysis reveals that the quality culture influences the effectiveness of QM practices by suggesting a significant strong effect on infrastructure and core quality practices. In turn, the analysis reveals that these two QM aspects differently have an impact on PSQ. Finally, the mediation analysis results reveal the indirect significant impact of the quality culture on PSQ through the mediator effect of QM practices.

The main contribution of this work is to theoretically explain and empirically prove some mechanisms by which education centers can develop and implement a total quality initiative. The findings provide ideas for management teams about how to personalize TQM practices to achieve optimum performance outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between TQM/Six Sigma practices and their impact on performance.

Based on the literature review of research that investigated the TQM and Six Sigma best practices and performance, the TQM/Six Sigma practices are classified into three key categories: top management commitment and support (TMCS), infrastructure and core practices. This paper proposes a path model linking these practices and performance. The empirical data were obtained from a survey of 91 Tunisian companies in different sectors. The research model was tested using partial least squares (PLS) technique based on SmartPLS software.

The result shows that the implementation of Six Sigma practices is based majorly on the TQM practices. Also, it reveals the positive impact of TQM/Six Sigma practices on performance. Furthermore, the analysis of path model reveals the relative interdependence and significant link between TMCS, infrastructure, core practices and performance.

The path model tested in this study combines the TQM/Six Sigma practices and reveals their link with performance, which enhance the research theory of both two approaches. Moreover, it will be a useful support for the quality expert on the effective integration of TQM and Six Sigma methods.

This study is the first one which studies the link between TQM/Six Sigma practices and company’s performance in the Tunisian context based on PLS technique.

One of the commonly cited problems in the implementation of quality practices is related to cultural resistance to change. While the importance of organizational culture to quality management (QM) practices has been recognized in the recent literature, little is known about how quality culture influences quality performance. The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanism of how the nurture of quality culture in a firm influences quality performance.

This study empirically assesses the path from quality culture to infrastructure practices, core practices, and finally to quality performance using data collected from 397 Chinese manufacturing firms in a structural equitation model.

The results indicate a chain effect that quality culture serves as an antecedent for infrastructure practices to take effect and infrastructure practices provide a supporting foundation for core practices to generate positive impact on quality performance. Anything that breaks on the chain will cause a problem in quality practices implementation.

The results of this study contribute to understanding the cultural implications for successful QM implementation. The study emphasizes that quality implementation needs to be considered as a system work where culture is an indispensible part. This offers practical insights of how firms operating in China could build quality advantages other than cost.

The purpose of this study was to examine the quality performance of the Egyptian manufacturing industry based on Flynn's quality management practices framework.

A literature-based questionnaire was developed to collect the research data. The sample studied included 193 professionals from different manufacturing firms in Egypt. The research model utilized seven first-order constructs to measure infrastructure and core quality practices and the model was analyzed by structural equation modeling.

The results of the study showed that infrastructure practices had a positive effect on core quality practices, which in turn, significantly influenced quality performance. The findings confirmed that Egyptian manufacturing firms have a good foundation of quality management practices enabling them to improve quality performance.

This study provides a foundation for Egyptian manufacturing firms to develop a practical plan for implementing total quality management (TQM). In addition, the results of this study will help managers and policy makers develop a thorough understanding of the current status of TQM initiatives, enablers and barriers in Egypt.

The study represents one of the few attempts to examine quality practices and quality performance in the manufacturing sector in Egypt. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first study to examine these parameters in this context in Egypt.