by Dr Naveed Yazdani|Dean, Professor, HEC Approved PhD Supervisor, Chief Editor - Journal of Management and Research (JMR) | Dr Hasan Murad School of Management
Presently, the Industry 4.0 (I4.0) revolution is transforming the operations and businesses of organizations through technological advancements. These digital technologies are hugely impacting the technological innovations (TIs) and execution of total quality management (TQM) in organizations.
Existent literature on TQM and firm’s innovation performance (IP) relation has shown mixed findings exclusively, in manufacturing companies. Despite the strategic significance of both TQM and innovation (INN) to improve sustainable competitive gain, this is an under-researched area in the I4.0 context. Additionally, Quality 4.0 is also a new concept, and the role of I4.0 technologies in the transformation of the traditional TQM function hasn’t been researched so far.
Despite the strategic significance of the role of knowledge creation processes (KCPs) towards a firm’s IP and performance in the I4.0, there is a dearth of research addressing integrative framework TQM, KC, and IP exclusively in progressing country context. Considering these prevailing gaps in the literature, the current study is an attempt to develop and test a model in the context of Pakistan in relevance to I4.0. The proposed framework examines the influence of executing quality management or QM practices (QMP) on innovation performance (IP). Additionally, the mediating role of knowledge creation processes (KCPs) and moderation of digital transformation (DIT) is also explored in the QMP-IP relation.
Data of 265 respondents were obtained from ISO 9001 certified manufacturing firms of Pakistan through structured questionnaire on the Likert Scale. Data were analysed through SPSS 23.0 and Hayes process macro applying statistical tests (reliability, correlation, and regression analysis). Study results revealed that all variables were positively correlated. Quality management practices (QMP) have a positive and significant impact on a firm’s IP. Results supported the partial mediation effect of organizational knowledge creation processes (KCPs) in the QMP-IP relationship. While moderating impact of digital transformation (DIT) in QMP-IP relation was also supported. Study findings have implications for academia, management, and practitioners. This study contributes to prevalent literature as it empirically tests a proposed framework to address under-researched area of QMP- IP relation in relevance to DIT and KCPs in the Pakistan context and I4.0.