The importance of internal aspects in quality improvement

Abstract

The adoption of ISO 9000 has been justified in terms of the many benefits it generate, although problems may also arise. Such advantages and disadvantages lead to different reasons for seeking certification. Based on these reasons, this paper analyzed the influence of internal motivation for seeking certification with level of quality management and performance in order to determinate whether internal aspects are more important than external aspects. For this purpose, a factor analysis (to identify reasons) and a cluster analysis (to establish significant differences among the groups in order to study the relation between reasons for seeking certification and level of quality management and performance) have been performed on the answers supplied by 106 certified firms in the Alicante area (eastern Spain). It is part of a wider research process, aimed at analyzing quality practices in certified firms by using quality management elements.

An empirical study of the motives and benefits of ISO 9000 certification: the UAE experience

“…Also five benefits factors were determined and named as: "profitability", "human resources", "product quality", "marketing" and "suppliers". We note that the motives and benefits factors, determined in this study, are similar to the ones listed in the papers of: Arauz and Suziki (2004); Buttle (1997); Huarng et al (1999); Llopis and Tari (2003) and Singels et al (2001). After conducting the factorial analysis, we performed a correlation analysis between the motives and benefits factors.…”

“…The questionnaire was directly sent to the quality managers of the companies surveyed because it was an important recommendation from the study group. Besides, many authors in similar studies selected the quality manager as the most suitable person to answer their questionnaires as he/she is usually the key person in coordinating the certification process and is supposed to have had an extensive training in quality management (Carlsson and Carlsson, 1996;Escanciano et al, 2001;Llopis and Tari, 2003). The Likert scale of five points was used for evaluating every question statement.…”

“…Some authors adopted the internal-external classification prior to their statistical analyses (Jones et al, 1997;Escanciano et al, 2001;Yahya and Goh, 2001;Vloeberghs and Bellens, 1996). Others used it when performing a principal component analysis (Arauz and Suziki, 2004;Brown et al, 1998;Bryde and Slocock, 1998;Buttle, 1997;Huarng et al, 1999;Llopis and Tari, 2003;Singels et al, 2001).…”

Quality Success: Do Organisational Learning Attributes Make a Difference?

“…An independent third-party assessment was used to guide the selection of the organisations in the sample. As such organisations that have achieved ISO 9000 certification were selected as such organisations have implemented a quality approach to its operations, at least in terms of the requirements of the quality standard; and the use of such organisations is seen in the research of others (Claver, Tari and Molina2002;Hendricks and Singhal, 1997;Llopis and Tari, 2001). Potential respondents were sourced from the publicly available on-line Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ) database of certified organisations.…”

Management system certification benefits: where do we stand?

“…External motivation can improve the access to markets, satisfy customer requirements, enhance the organization image, and facilitate the access to governmental incentives, but if no internal improvements are implemented, and the goal is just to do the minimum to achieve certification, the external benefits might not endure (Llopis & Tari, 2003;Boiral & Roy, 2007); Martínez-Costa, Martínez-Lorente & Choi, 2008;Prajogo, 2011). However, it should be acknowledged that there are authors that favor the benefits of the internal motivations for MSSs implementation and certification, while others consider the external motivations as more relevant.…”