Integrated quality and environmental management framework for small and medium food processing enterprises in Pakistan

Abstract

Food is an essential component for our daily dietary needs. The demand for food is increasing as with the increasing population. Undoubtedly, the significance of food industry to the countries’ growth is well recognized. However, as reported in the literature, majority of food industry players are Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), where they are confronted with limitations and constraints to succeed in the business growth due to limited resources. Nowadays, food industry has been reported to consume abundant resources of water and energy, and pollute the environment through water waste, solid wastes, and air pollution. Therefore, further study on these related issues should be explored particularly in the developing countries. Thus, the research was decided to be conducted among food processing SMEs in Pakistan. Pakistan is a developing country where the implementation of quality and environmental management practices is far behind. The awareness and implementation of environmental regulations are also reported weak, especially by the Pakistan’s SME. Currently, the country is facing hindrances in global food trade due to the lack of environmental concerns. To date, there are no empirical studies on quality and environmental management in food processing SMEs of Pakistan, and the extent of integrated quality and environmental management practices is still a grey area. Moreover, the important role of organization culture is also less studied in developing countries such as Pakistan. To fill the research gaps, this study aims to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of Integrated Quality and Environmental Management (IQEM) and examine their impact on the performance of food processing SMEs in Pakistan. The moderating role of organizational culture on the relationship between IQEM practices and the organizational performance is also examined. Seven constructs are used to measure IQEM whereas the organizational performance is measured by operational and environmental performances. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to food processing SMEs operating in Punjab, Pakistan, which is 65.27 % of the total SMEs are in Pakistan. The unit of analysis is SME company and the respondents of the questionnaire are those who possess knowledge about the subject matter. Purposive with snowball sampling techniques were used for data collection. A total of 302 food processing SME owners or managers responded to the survey but only 288 are useable for further analysis. IBM-SPSS version-23 and SmartPLS-3 were used for data analysis and hypothesis testing. The results show that CSFs of IQEM have significant impact to the performance of food processing SMEs in Pakistan. Moreover, the organizational culture moderates the relationship between IQEM and the organizational performance. This study has succeeded to fill the research gap identified, especially on the CSFs of IQEM for food processing SMEs in the developing countries such as Pakistan. It is believed that by practicing CSFs of IQEM, food SMEs can improve their performance and increase their competitiveness. Furthermore, organizational culture is also revealed as a key factor that is significant on organizational performance. The research findings will help the SMEs to increase their implementation awareness on IQEM practices to gain success in business. Indirectly, this study will be able to help food processing SMEs especially in Pakistan to improve their holistic organizational performance. It will also be able to motivate and expose a role of organizational culture to be imposed by SME food industry especially in Pakistan in order to gain competitive advantage.