Relationship between statistical process control critical success factors and organizational performance

Abstract

Statistical Process Control (SPC) is a statistical based techniques and methods used within the improvement based philosophy such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma. SPC research can be divided into two major categories: technical and methodological aspects and the organizational and the implementation aspects. Between the two, the organizational and the implementation aspects of SPC is almost being neglected and lack of attention being given by the researcher. Based on the literature, the SPC implementation research focuses on identifying factors for successful implementation. What is missing from this SPC implementation literature is the relationship of how these so called SPC critical factors affects quality and firm performance statistically and empirically. Therefore, the objective of this research is to establish the relationships between statistical process control (SPC) critical success factors (CSF) and quality and firm performance. Empirical data were collected from 326 responses from Malaysian automotive related companies using industrial survey research methodology. In study 1, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed using Promax rotation with Principle Axis Factoring to determine the underlying dimension of SPC success factors and organizational performance. Preliminary findings from EFA (n = 122) provided evidence for six (6) success factor constructs and three (3) organizational performance constructs. The six (6) success factor constructs are training, role of quality department, deployment, top management commitment, process focus and teamwork. In study 2, results from confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (n = 204) provided additional support for results obtained from study 1. The structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques was employed to examine the relationship between these six (6) SPC critical success factors (CSF) and performance. The results show that there is a positive and significant relationship between these CSF and organizational performance. This research has a practical value in which quality and operation manager would be able to identify and relate the success of his or her SPC implementation projects through managing of these associated factors.