Can integration difficulties affect innovation and satisfaction?

Abstract

Purpose – The difficulties in the integration of management systems (MSs) and their relationship with innovation and customer satisfaction are explored by proposing a model that links these three concepts together. Integration, innovation and customer satisfaction are relevant issues for the competitiveness of companies, especially for the ones that have implemented several MS standards. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Data for the study derives from a survey carried out in 76 Spanish organizations registered to at least both ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 standards for quality MSs and environmental MSs, respectively. An exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) are utilized to assess and confirm the proposed scales validity and the relationships of the conceptual model. Findings – Based on the empirical study, the second-order SEM shows that the difficulties of integration are directly and negatively related to both of MS documentation and procedures. This level is also directly related to the innovation and satisfaction. Nevertheless, no relationships were found between the difficulties of integration and the integration level of MS human resources. Moreover, no direct relationships were found between the difficulties of integration and both the constructs of innovation and satisfaction. Also, the results showed the integration level of MS procedures was not related to the construct of innovation. Originality/value – This is one of the first studies to relate integration difficulties with innovation and customer satisfaction, with a conclusion that an organization should give more importance to the difficulties of integrated MSs that have been uncovered to have a relationship with innovation and customer satisfaction.

Union is strength

“…To test our hypotheses we take as a reference framework the measurement model developed and tested by Simon et al (2014) for examining the difficulties in the integration of MSs. They find that difficulties of integration negatively affect both the integration level of MS documentation and the integration level of MS procedures.…”

Setting Strategies outside a Typical Environmental Perspective Using ISO 14001 Certification

“…The authors highlighted that environmental strategies can be used to improve the profitability and even the turnover of a company. In addition, with regard to turnover, other authors stated that ISO 14001 can be used as a strategy for improving customer satisfaction in different organizations and sectors (Epstein and Roy, ; Sarkis, ; Daub and Ergenzinger, ; Eng Ann et al , ; Heras‐Saizarbitoria et al , ; Simon et al , ; Sebastianelli et al , ). Some authors considered ISO 14001 to be a possible marketing initiative (Poksinska et al , ; Hasan and Chan, ; Lim and Prakash, ; Martín‐Peña et al , ; Ferrell and Ferrell, ) that could increase a company's turnover as well as customer satisfaction.…”

Development of knowledge management in integration management systems in order to increase the organisational performance of construction companies

“…The integration of management systems is ultimately seen of as a highly effective tool to use to optimize the function and procedures of quality and occupational health and safety management systems when implementing construction projects [16]. Through the management system overall, organizations try to improve product quality, the environment, worker safety, and other management practices [17,18]. In practice, the integration of a management system still faces several problems, such as the definition of integrated management itself still being unclear [4].…”