T. Ramayah

TQM practices, service quality, and market orientation

Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and service quality as well as the relationship between TQM practices and market orientation.Design/methodology/approach – Structured questionnaires were distributed to managers of 175 service organisations in the northern region of Malaysia; 101 were returned.Findings – The results show that employee empowerment, information and communication, customer focus, and continuous improvement had a significant effect on service quality whereas only employee empowerment and customer focus had a significant effect on market orientation.Research limitations/implications – A wider sample can be used for any future study, which can be generalized to the service industry with multiple responses from different individuals and management levels. The same study can also be completed by including more TQM practices as well as other mediating variables like environment, culture, and control within the o...

Impact of shared beliefs on “perceived usefulness” and “ease of use” in the implementation of an enterprise resource planning system

Purpose – This article seeks to examine the impact of shared beliefs concerning the benefits of enterprise resource planning (ERP) among executives and engineers in the northern region of Malaysia....

The relationship between leadership styles and organizational commitment in Malaysia: role of leader–member exchange

Building upon the ‘social exchange theory’ notion, this study hypothesized the moderating impact of leader–member exchange (LMX) on the relationship between two leadership styles and organizational commitment of employees. One hundred and fifty-six Malaysian executives voluntarily participated in this study. Though the hypotheses for direct effects received low to moderate support for transformational leadership styles, the moderating hypothesis received substantial support, with a stronger relationship particularly in the case of professional respect dimension of LMX. Implications of the findings, limitations of the study and directions for future research are suggested.

Market orientation, service quality and organizational performance in service organizations in Malaysia

Purpose – This study seeks to examine the relationship between market orientation, service quality, and their impact towards organizational performance.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 175 sets of structured questionnaires were distributed to managers of 175 service organizations in the northern region of Malaysia, and only 57.71 percent of it, which is 101, was returned.Findings – The results show that market orientation has a significant effect on organizational performance and service quality. Also, service quality has a significant effect on organizational performance. Interestingly, this study found that service quality partially mediates the relationship between market orientation and organizational performance.Research limitations/implications – In order to be more generalized to the service industry, a wider sample with multiple responses from different individuals and management levels can be used for any future study. The same study can also be done by including other mediating or even m...

Maintenance strategy in Malaysian manufacturing companies: a total productive maintenance (TPM) approach

Purpose – The paper aims to investigate the extent of TPM practices in Malaysian manufacturing companies, as TPM practices have been shown to lead to better performance.Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted in Malaysian manufacturing companies to examine the extent of TPM practices. The correlations among TPM practices were also evaluated accordingly.Findings – Correlation analysis was carried out and the results show that there is a positive relationship among TPM practices. In general, TPM practices, for instance autonomous maintenance, planned maintenance and TPM strategy, show positive and significant correlations among this sample of Malaysian manufacturing companies.Research limitation/implications – Since the sample was rather small, caution is required when making generalizations.Practical implications – The study highlights the need to improve the collaboration between the maintenance function and other functions in organizations. TPM can be established as an aggressive strategy to...

Market Orientation and Organizational Performance: The Moderating Role of Service Quality

Orientation plays a vital role for organizations to compete to create sustainable competitive advantage. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between market orientation (MO) and organizational performance (OP) with service quality (SQ) as a moderator in the context of the hotel industry in Malaysia. MO and OP were conceptualized as three- and two-dimensional constructs, respectively, whereas SQ, which consists of two-dimensional constructs, namely, technical quality and functional quality, was used as a moderator. Data were gathered through a survey using a structured questionnaire with a sample of 187 executive-level employees employed in hotels rated three stars and above in Malaysia. SmartPLS 2.0 (M3) with path modeling and bootstrapping was used to examine the standard error of the estimate and t-values. The findings suggest that only competitor orientation dimension of MO was significantly related to OP, whereas customer orientation and inter-functional coordination were not related. Interestingly, SQ was found to have moderated the relationship between MO and performance of the hotels in Malaysia. SQ exists to fill in the gap between customers’ expectations and their perception of the service providers’ performance that further creates differentiation and competitive advantage, which enhance MO practices and ultimately lead to improvements in the firm’s performance. Implications of the findings, potential limitations of the study, and directions for future research are highlighted.

Validating Teacher Commitment Scale Using a Malaysian Sample

This study attempts to validate an integrative Teacher Commitment scale using rigorous scale validation procedures. An adapted questionnaire with 17 items was administered to 600 primary school teachers in Penang, Malaysia. Data were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with SPSS 19.0 and AMOS 19.0, respectively. The results support Teacher Commitment as a multidimensional construct with its four underlying dimensions: Commitment to Student, Commitment to Teaching, Commitment to School, and Commitment to Profession. A validated Teacher Commitment scale with 13 items measured can be proposed to be used as an evaluative tool to assess the level to which teachers are committed to their students’ learning, teaching, school, and profession. The Teacher Commitment scale would also facilitate the identifications of factors that influence teachers’ quality of work life and school effectiveness. The practical implications, school cultural influence, and methodological limitations are discussed.

Leadership styles and financial services performance

This paper seeks to explore the relationship between leadership practices and organisational performance of financial leaders in Malaysia. It aims to investigate the existence of contemporary leadership styles such as transformational, transactional and leader-member exchange (LMX) in enhancing organisational performance particularly in financial services sector. Data was collected from financial services companies, comprising commercial banks, investment banks, unit trust management companies and insurance companies. SmartPLS 2.0 (M3) was applied to test the hypotheses that comprised both transformational and transactional leadership styles and also LMX on organisational performance and subsequently bootstrapping was conducted to investigate the standard error of the estimate and t-values. This research highlights the importance of leadership awareness as well as recognition of LMX as a valuable approach in achieving a better organisational performance. This study attempts to blend various leadership styles and organisational performance of financial services sector in Malaysia.