AN EMPIRICAL-ASSESSMENT OF THE INFLUENCE OF QUALITY DIMENSIONS ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE

While there are several conceptual models to suggest that there exists an association between quality dimensions (customer satisfaction, emp loyee satisfaction, employee service quality) and organizational perfo rmance, no empirical study to date has verified such claims. This pape r extends the literature by collecting hard data from 165 practising m anagers and testing their perceptions of the association among various quality dimensions and several organizational performance measures. T he relationships between these quality dimensions and the nine compone nt items that make up organizational performance were also investigate d for both manufacturing and service firms. The data were grouped into four typologies to include type of firm, size, age, and presence of f ormal quality department. Multiple discriminant analysis was conducted to differentiate the typology of firms in a multivariate setting. Our results indicate that practising managers in manufacturing firms tend to perceive more widely a positive correlation between quality dimens ions and the component items of organizational performance than manage rs in service firms. Also, managers from older manufacturing firms ten d not to perceive a relationship between employee service quality and five component items of organizational performance such as competitive ness and market share. The measures used for the three quality dimensi ons and organizational performance are shown to be valid and reliable. However, information derived from the study shows that practising man agers in the service sector do not perceive some of the claims and exp ected benefits of quality management activities.