Association of performance with quality initiatives and quality awards: quality initiatives' effect

Purpose - The purpose of this empirical study intends to explore the contingency effect of the adoption of some specific quality initiatives (QI), on the correlation of some performance measures (PMs) with the “interacting” QI and quality award (QA) models through the continuous improvement (CI) journey of Indian QA winners. Design/methodology/approach - A survey questionnaire was administered to the Indian Quality Award winners. Data collected from a survey were followed by validity and reliability analyses of the instrument. Hypotheses were tested using Spearman's correlation test and Fisher'sZ-test. Findings - Some specific QI that affected the correlation between PMs and research questions representing the interaction among QI and QA models during different stages of the CI journey of organizations were identified. PMs that correlated with interacting QI and QA models through the above stages of CI journey were also identified. Practical implications - A preliminary inference on QI to be adopted and the PMs to be focused upon during the different periods of CI journey of Indian organizations was arrived at. This could help practitioners in proper choice of QI and to focus upon “realistic” PM through different stages of the CI journey of organizations. Originality/value - This study attempts to fill the gap of scarce holistic studies on the long-term performance implications of interacting QI and QA through the CI journey of organizations.