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The purpose of this paper is to examine the multi-level relationship between people-related total quality management (TQM) practices and employee job satisfaction. The authors draw upon organizational climate theory to hypothesize that TQM is related to job satisfaction at the individual employee level, as well as at the organizational level in the form of shared perceptions of TQM practices in the workplace.

Multi-level modelling was used to test the study hypotheses. The sample was drawn from 201 employees working in 23 organizations in Australia.

The findings show that people-related TQM practices are positively related to job satisfaction at both individual and organizational levels, with a stronger effect on employee attitudes observed at the organizational level.

The statistically significant multi-level relationship between people-related TQM practices and job satisfaction extends the findings of previous studies conducted only at the individual level; thus, supporting the sustainability of TQM as a management principle at a company-wide level.

The findings broadly support the implementation of people-related TQM practices as part of a strategy of creating a “high performance” climate in organizations, which in turn, will likely to positively affect both individual and organizational performance.

From a wider social perspective, the implementation of TQM practices as a company-wide initiative could facilitate greater corporate social responsibility of the organization. Such practices as training, involving, and empowering employees can promote social commitment by valuing employees as one important stakeholder.

This is the first empirical study to the best of the author’s knowledge that uses multi-level modelling to examine the relationship between TQM practices and employee attitudes such as job satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of human capital (HC) on service innovation advantage (SIA) and business performance (BP) in service sector firms, and how external environmental factors influence these relationships.

This study utilized a cross-sectional mail survey of a random sample of Australian service firms with the unit of analysis being at the firm level. In total, 228 usable responses were received.

The overall findings of this study show that HC is positively related to the creation of value or SIA which in turn results in rent generation for firms. The results further show that the effect of SIA on BP is influenced by environmental dynamism and competitiveness with dynamic environments enhancing the effect while competitive environments weakening it.

The findings demonstrate the complementarity between the resource based theory and contingency theory as they clearly shows that the value of innovation as a firm’s capability is enhanced or weakened within a business environment that is more dynamic or competitive.

The findings demonstrate the importance of HC, and, thus, encourage managers to seek ways to harness and leverage HC for improving innovation and BP. In addition, the study also helps managers to understand the contingency effect of business environment on the effectiveness of innovation, hence, helping them in deliberating firms’ strategy in different business environments.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study which examines the effectiveness of HC as organizational resource for building SIA as a source of organizational competitive advantage.

The purpose of this paper compares the experience of organizations in Australia and Singapore with respect to the multidimensionality of TQM and its relationship with quality performance and innovation performance.

A survey was initially conducted in Australia and replicated in Singapore using the same questionnaire. We obtained a total of 252 responses, 194 from Australia and 58 from Singapore. The respondents were all middle and senior management who had experience and understandings of their organizations' quality management and innovation activities.

Results of the survey cross‐validate that TQM practices take place along several dimensions. Relatively more organic dimensions such as leadership and people management are related more to innovation performance, whilst more mechanistic dimensions such as customer focus and process management are significantly related to quality performance.

Relatively small sample size, especially that from Singapore limits the generalisation of the findings.

The paper supports the compatibility of the best practices modelled in both Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) and Singapore Quality Award (SQA).

The paper presents a comparative analysis on TQM and innovation between the two countries in terms of both descriptive and structural relationships. Specifically, it confirms the construct validity and criterion validity of TQM practices presented in the earlier studies using scientific method.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the underlying strategic intent of quality performance. Specifically, the study aimed to examine the individual impact of differentiation and cost leadership as well as their interaction effect on quality performance.

This study employed a data set drawn from 102 managers of Australian manufacturing firms. Multiple regression analysis with moderating effect was used for analysing the relationship between the competitive strategies and quality performance.

The findings indicated that product quality was predicted by differentiation strategy, but not cost leadership strategy. However, the effect of differentiation on quality was moderated by cost leadership whereby the higher the cost leadership, the stronger the effect.

The small sample size which was dominated by small‐to‐medium sized firms (SMEs) was the major limitation of the study. The sample size and distribution also inhibited the comparison of the results between industry sectors.

The results contribute to a better understanding on how quality can be effectively employed as a base for realising competitive strategy. In particular, the positive interaction between differentiation and cost leadership in predicting quality performance suggests the synergy between the two as well as supporting the cumulative view of competitive strategies.

By testing the interaction effect of differentiation and cost leadership in predicting quality performance, this study advances the previous works on the area which looked at the relationship between quality performance and each of the two competitive strategies separately.

The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative study on the impact of manufacturing strategies and resources on innovation performance in two newly industrialised countries in the South East Asian region, Thailand and Vietnam.

A quantitative approach was employed. The survey data was drawn from 95 Thai and 44 Vietnamese middle or senior managers in manufacturing firms.

Three major findings were noted in this study. First, there were no significant differences between Thai and Vietnamese manufacturing firms with respect to manufacturing strategies, resources, and innovation performance. Second, differentiation strategy is shown to be the strongest predictors for both product and process innovation across both countries. Technology management, however, only shows a significant effect on both product and process innovation among Thai firms. The other three manufacturing strategies (leadership, people management, and R&D) did not show a significant relationship with any of product or process innovations. Finally, the results of the moderating regression analysis, using country as a dummy variable, confirm that the effect of technology on product innovation is significantly stronger among Thai firms than Vietnamese firms.

Small sample sizes of both countries are the major limitation of the study. Future studies can advance this research by incorporating a larger sample size as well as focusing on more innovative industries, such as electronics, automotive and food industries.

The results provide insights on the status of several key managerial practices among manufacturing firms in Thailand and Vietnam. The study highlights the lack of R&D intensity in manufacturing firms as well as its non‐significant impact on innovation performance.

This is the first empirical study to compare two newly industrialised countries in the South East Asian region in regards to manufacturing/operational practices, innovation performances, and differentiation strategy.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the four cultural dimensions of the competing values framework (CVF) (group, developmental, hierarchical, and rational cultures) and four types of performance: product quality, process quality, product innovation, and process innovation. Theoretically, this represents the contrasts among the four quadrants of CVF in terms of their respective outcomes, with quality and innovation reflecting the contrast between control and flexibility orientations, and product and process reflecting the contrast between external and internal orientations.

Data were collected from 194 middle and senior managers of Australian firms who had knowledge of past and present organizational practices relating to quality and innovation‐related aspects in the organization.

Developmental culture was found to be the strongest predictor among the four cultural dimensions, as it shows relationships with three of the performance measures: product quality, product innovation, and process innovation. Rational culture shows a relationship with product quality, and along with group and hierarchical cultures, it also plays a role in predicting process quality.

The results provide key insights for managers to appropriately understand the fit between the culture and the strategic direction of the firm. The findings also encourage firms to appreciate the balanced view on what seems to be multiple cultural characteristics within the same organization.

By simultaneously examining the relationships between different cultural dimensions and different types of performance, this paper extends the previous empirical studies which linked CVF with a specific measure of performance.

This empirical study examines the relationship between total quality management (TQM) and innovation performance and compares the nature of this relationship against quality performance. The empirical data were obtained from a survey of 194 managers in Australian industry encompassing both manufacturing and non‐manufacturing sectors. The structural equation modeling technique was used to examine the relationships between TQM and quality performance as well as innovation performance, simultaneously. The findings suggest that TQM significantly and positively relates to both product quality and product innovation performance although it appears that the magnitude of the relationship is greater against product quality. In addition, significant causal relationships between quality performance and innovation performance were found, suggesting that achievement of one aspect of performance could impact the other.

This paper aims to identify changes in quality management practices that occurred in Australian manufacturing firms between 1994 and 2001.

This study used two sets of data drawn from two separate surveys. The first survey was conducted in 1994 by the Australian Manufacturing Council (AMC) and the second survey was conducted in the early 2001 among the members of Australian Organisation for Quality (AOQ). After screening both data sets, 336 and 101 responses were usable for analysis using MANOVA.

In the year 2001, Australian manufacturing firms were investing less in training and development of employees, and saw themselves as needing to provide greater levels of leadership in pursuing best practice than in 1994. In addition, maintaining a high‐quality of working environment and managing customer relationships were considered far more important in 2001 than previously, and less emphasis was placed on the standardising and documenting of internal procedures. Finally, suppliers were increasingly involved in product development, suggesting a shift of competitive advantage from an internal focus into a supply‐chain orientation.

The significant discrepancy in the sample size and the different populations of the two surveys are the major limitations in generalising the findings of this study.

The findings would be useful for practitioners who wish to track trends among Australian manufacturing firms and for those who want a benchmark against which to measure an individual firm's performance. Practitioners may also be interested in issues such as supplier involvement and documentation.

This study contributes new knowledge by assessing the trend of adoption of quality management practices in two separate cross‐sectional studies at two different times.

This paper aims to explore the extent to which four elements of the value chain – marketing, research and development, procurement, and operations – are associated with product quality and product innovation.

A survey of 194 managers of Australian firms, and multivariate analysis using structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.

The elements of the value chain differ in their association with product outcomes. Marketing and production are related to product quality, but surprisingly while research and development is related to product innovation, marketing is not. Procurement is related to both product quality and product innovation.

The paper shows that individual elements of the value chain are related to specific competitive strategies and how these elements are related to each other, suggesting the need to direct effort within the firm for better, targeted performance. The results are limited by the sample size and geography of the survey.

Specific value chain functions tend to be associated with specific performance outcomes. This suggests that managers might gain by targeting specific elements of the value chain as their organizations strive for specific competitive goals.

This paper seeks to help managers and decision makers to assess the relationship between the different attributes of the value chain and product quality and innovation. It is often not feasible for managers to emphasize all the elements of the value chain simultaneously, and this paper provides an important step in looking at these individual linkages.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between exploration and exploitation innovation, and business performance in small and medium enterprise (SME) service firms. Furthermore, the paper also examines the interaction between the two innovation orientations in predicting business performance, and the influence of size in the effectiveness of each of them in enhancing business performance.

Using empirical data drawn from 180 managers in Australian service organisations, this study also compares the effect of ambidextrous innovation on business performance within these SMEs.

The findings show that, controlled for size, neither of the innovation orientations show significant, direct relationships with firms' performance. However, ambidextrous innovation was positively associated with business performance, indicating a synergy between exploration and exploitation. Further examination indicates the relationship between exploration/exploitation innovation and performance is moderated by size within the authors' sample of small firms.

Taken together, the results point to an interesting and complex relationship within SMEs relating to innovation orientation, size, and performance. This relationship suggests that service SMEs are best served by the simultaneous pursuit of both exploitive and exploratory innovation.

This research is original in that it deliberately focuses on innovation in service SMEs, an area that has not seen significant research previously. As such, the authors' insights into the relationship between ambidextrous innovation and performance suggest the need for creating balance and synergy between the two innovation types.