A Structural Model of Quality Leadership, Process Innovation, and Organizational Excellence

Abstract

The purpose of this study will be to investigate the structural relationships involving quality leadership, process innovation, and organisational excellence in the context of competitive business environments. Based on the theoretical background of Total Quality Management (TQM), innovation capability theory, and business excellence models (EFQM/Baldrige) the paper expounds to the structural framework where quality leadership contributes to excellent performance of organisations both directly and indirectly via process innovation. On the quantitative side of the research design, the survey data was used to gather data on 312 managers based on manufacturing and service sector organisations. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the proposed model. The model of measurements proved excellent reliability and validity, whereas the outcomes of the structural model showed that quality leadership has a considerable impact on process innovation (β = 0.64, p < 0.001) and organisational excellence (β = 0.29, p = 0.01). Process innovation also showed a significant positive relationship with organisational excellence (β = 0.51, p < 0.001), whereas the R² value was 0.58 and the value is significant. The mediation test established that the relationship between quality leadership and organisational excellence is mediated by process innovation to some extent. The conclusions draw practical implications to the managers as an indicator of the need to adopt leadership quality culture and innovation process improvement strategies to act as a catalyst to sustained excellence. This paper adds to the body of the quality management and innovation research because the investigation empirically supports an integrated structural framework that connects leadership practises with the innovation processes and excellence performance outcomes of the companies which is the advanced PLS-SEM analysis.