Studying The Relationship Of "Soft" And "Hard" TQM Elements With Service Quality In Service Firms

Seng Ratny, Arif Mohammad Arshad and Tian Gaoliang ()
Additional contact information
Tian Gaoliang: Xi’an Jiaotong University, China

Journal of Developing Areas, 2018, vol. 52, issue 4, 213-226

Abstract: The objective of this study is to observe the importance of "hard" and "soft" quality management aspects, association between soft-hard TQM elements and their impact on service. This study also analysis the outcome of "hard" and "soft" TQM components on Service Quality pursuits as well as verifies the statements about TQM's multidimensionality regarding service quality. Empirical data was drawn from 190 Pakistan service companies using questionnaire method. Hierarchical regression analysis was adopted to examine the hypotheses of this research. Results revealed that both aspects of hard-soft TQM perform an important role in enhancing service quality of service organizations. Final results demonstrated that all four variables of soft TQM were significantly connected with hard TQM variables; displaying the impact of soft-hard TQM factors on service quality. In accordance with the outcomes of this research, the usage of "soft" and "hard" TQM components can lay the foundations for enhancing its service quality. This research contributes to quality management, thereby theoretically suggesting and empirically examining the framework and analysing the integration between soft-hard TQM dimensions. This paper also tests the available claims about TQM's multidimensionality as well as its multidimensional reference to service quality. The suggested framework emphasizes that productive organizations should concentrate on a mixture of both soft or behaviour factors and the hard systems-oriented elements of TQM to attain better service quality to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty. Accordingly, both soft and hard practices are important for the rendering of service quality, and soft factors assist in enhancing hard factors. This provides the empirical verification concerning the direct effect of soft-hard TQM on service quality to financial services firms in Pakistan.

Keywords: Soft TQM; Hard TQM; Service Quality; Total quality management (TQM); Service Firms; Pakistan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L84 O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/678198

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jda:journl:vol.52:year:2018:issue4:pp:213-226

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Developing Areas from Tennessee State University, College of Business Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Abu N.M. Wahid ().