Are soft practices important for quality improvement?

Abstract

This study examines the influence of six selected soft practices (management commitment, employee empowerment, training, reward and recognition, customer focus, and supplier management) on quality improvement (QI) within 255 Malaysian electrical and electronics (E&E) firms. It uses regression and correlation analysis to test these relationships. The results reveal that management commitment, employee empowerment, training, reward and recognition, customer focus, and supplier management are significantly and positively associated with QI in the firms studied. Also employee empowerment was perceived as the dominant soft practice for QI. Employee empowerment is associated with significant increases in QI. This study contributes to a better understanding of the influence of soft practices on organisational QI among firms within the context of the Malaysian E&E sector. Suggestions for future research are discussed.