Public sector organisations often make use of management consultants in policy implementation, but we know little about the outcomes. The paper reports one of the first quantitative evaluations of the impact of consulting advice on efficiency of public sector organisations. We employ an extensive dataset covering English NHS acute care hospital trusts over a four-year period. Based on PCSEs estimations, the findings show a significantly positive relationship between consulting expenditure and organisational inefficiency. These results lend support to critical accounts of management consulting, highlighting the need for organisations to be circumspect in deciding whether and how to use these services.

This study explores the role played by gender in lending transactions and, specifically, its effects on the loan portfolio credit risk of microfinance institutions (MFIs). Using a multicountry dataset of developing countries, where MFIs mainly operate, the analysis shows that a higher proportion of female loan officers increases the loan portfolio at risk. Nonetheless, we also find that this positive relationship is negatively mediated by the gender affinity between female loan officers and female borrowers. Gender affinity suggests that female loan officers are more likely to lend to female borrowers and this reduces the default rate of loans offered by MFIs.

PurposeWithin the framework of Total Quality Management (TQM) and the EFQM Excellence Model (EEM), the main objective of this paper is to develop a causal-predictive analysis of the relationships between soft and strategic-hard EFQM factors and the organisational results (customers, people, society and key results).Design/methodology/approachFrom a causal-predictive perspective, four EEM models, designed for each organisational result, are compared applying partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) and using a sample with 225 Spanish organisations.FindingsThe results confirm that soft and strategic-hard EFQM factors constitute a socio-technical system in which there are multiple direct and indirect relationships, between these factors and the results. Finally, the predictive nature of the proposed models is confirmed, highlighting the predictive performance of the people results model.Practical implicationsThe results can lead to an improvement in organisational performance, as the developed models enable managers to anticipate the effects of their management decisions on those results concerning customers, people, society and key business results.Originality/valueFirst, a novel way of grouping TQM enabler factors has been proposed within the EEM framework. Second, four research models have been generated, which allow carrying out an in-depth study of the direct and indirect relationships, between soft and strategic-hard EFQM factors and result variables. Finally, this contribution has applied the most updated techniques in order to assess the prediction performance of the four research models posited.

No abstract

No abstract