Abstract | This paper investigates the effect of supply chain quality management (SCQM) practices on quality performance. Prior research theorizes that both TQM and SCM practices have a positive relationship with organisational performance (e.g. Kuei et al., 2001; Kahnali and Taghavi, 2010), because effective TQM and SCM has proved to be core to a firm’s competitive standing and deemed essential to achieve desired quality outcomes. In the light of the current globalised business environment, more recent research suggests that firms need to shift their internal focus on quality to encompass the globalization of their quality strategy and implement quality across the whole supply chain. In the extant literature, this has been referred to as supply chain quality management (SCQM). Hence, quality is now viewed as a common supply chain goal and perceived to be responsibility of the levels and actors in the supply chain. Exploring the interrelationships between TQM and SCM or SCQM practices, we encounter mixed results in the literature about their performance impact on quality outcomes and organisation as a whole (e.g., Lin et al. 2005; Sila et al., 2006; Kahnali and Taghavi, 2010). For example, most of previous research on the performance impact of SCQM practices has often been carried out at an aggregate level (i.e. viewing SCQM as a single construct), thereby concealing variation between individual practices of SCQM (e.g., Kuei et al, 2001; Kahnali and Taghavi, 2010; Zu and Kaynak, 2012; Lin et al., 2013). In this regard and given the multidimensionality of SCQM, we argue that the literature could be enriched by analysing the individual performance impact of each of SCQM practices on quality performance. Such individual level of analysis of SCQM practices not only supplement the existing dominant aggregate level analysis of SCQM, but also provides a platform for quality, supply chain and operations managers to identify the relative importance weight of individual SCQM practices and plan their operational and strategic priorities accordingly. Moreover, a major limitation of existing theorization of SCQM relates to the fact that they often explore the impact of SCQM practices on organisational performance. This implies that few studies have provided (mixed) accounts of the quality performance impact of SCQM practices and that the impact of SCQM practices on quality performance has remained ambiguous and controversial (see Lin et al. 2005; Kaynak and Hartley 2007; Kanji and Wong 1999; Kahnali and Taghavi 2010). The present paper seeks to attend to the aforementioned limitations with an empirical evaluation of the performance impact of SCQM practices on quality outcomes. |
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