The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between Total Quality Management (TQM) practices, competitive strategies -cost leadership and differentiation-and firm performance in the Palestinian economy. Within this study total quality management has been conceptualized as soft and hard practices, in congruence with the literature. An empirical analysis based upon an extensive validation process was applied to refine TQM, competitive strategies and financial performance scales. Data were collected through surveying 202 in Palestinian industrial small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Structural Equation Modeling was carried out to test the anticipated relationships. Results derived from this study show that TQM practices have indirect, positive and significant relationship with financial performance through competitive strategies. In addition, a direct, positive and significant relationship between competitive strategies and financial performance was observed. Results derived from this study might help managers to implement TQM practices in order to effectively allocate resources and improve financial performance.
The growth in social media use has given rise to concerns about the impacts it may have on users' psychological well-being. This paper's main objective is to shed light on the effect of social media use on psychological well-being. Building on contributions from various fields in the literature, it provides a more comprehensive study of the phenomenon by considering a set of mediators, including social capital types (i.e., bonding social capital and bridging social capital), social isolation, and smartphone addiction. The paper includes a quantitative study of 940 social media users from Mexico, using structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the proposed hypotheses. The findings point to an overall positive indirect impact of social media usage on psychological well-being, mainly due to the positive effect of bonding and bridging social capital. The empirical model's explanatory power is 45.1%. This paper provides empirical evidence and robust statistical analysis that demonstrates both positive and negative effects coexist, helping to reconcile the inconsistencies found so far in the literature.
Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between quality ambidexterity, competitive strategies (cost leadership, differentiation, and focus), and firm performance in Palestinian industry, and to analyze the combination of quality exploitation and quality exploration (quality ambidexterity) associated with different levels of each competitive strategy.
Design/methodology/approach -Using data collected through a survey of 205Palestinian industrial firms, the study conducted Structural Equation Modeling to test the proposed relationships. Additional statistical analyses were applied to the combinations of quality exploitation and quality exploration for each competitive strategy.
Findings -The results show a positive and significant relationship between quality ambidexterity and three competitive strategies, and between competitive strategies and financial performance, focus strategy excepted. Balanced combination with similar levels of quality exploitation and quality exploration is found to be more suitable for higher levels of competitive strategies implementation, whereas an excess of quality exploration over quality exploitation is associated with lower levels of strategies implementation.Research limitations/implications -Although Palestine has two regions, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, all survey respondents were from the West Bank. may help managers to implement quality exploitation and quality exploration practices in order to allocate resources effectively and ultimately improve financial performance.
This paper aims to explore the nexus between Total Quality Management practices and Organizational Performance, and the mediating effect of the Entrepreneurial Orientation dimension on the relationship. A cross-sectional data was obtained from 549 small-scale manufacturing companies using convenience sampling. Data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential techniques. Discovery unveiled through the PLS-SEM result, shows a tie of relationship existing between TQM and performance, as well as entrepreneurial orientation dimension. Since, firms had a high capacity for innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking; they acquire a competitive advantage and realize greater performance.
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