Integrated quality environmental management practices and its impact on operational and environmental performances in food processing SMEs

Abstract

Sustainability issues and environmental pollution influenced organizations to reduce their environmental burden and more focus on sustainable production, therefore, sustainability is becoming hot debating topic for industries and its stakeholders. Previous studies revealed that Integrated Quality Environment Management (IQEM) provides cost savings, avoid duplication of tasks, improves corporate image and performance, and provide higher customer satisfaction. Food processing industry is growing fast, as the demand for processed foods is increasing from lifestyle and health conscious customers. Besides the advantages of processed food, this industry consumes abundant resources of water, energy, raw material, and considered as one of the sources which pollutes the environment through solid waste and waste water. Based on the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), this study aims to test the impact of the model on the operational and environmental performance of food processing SMEs in Pakistan. A structured questionnaire was employed for data collection from the respondents selected using snowball sampling technique. IBM SPSS version-23 and Smart- PLS 3 were used for data analysis. It is believed that, this study will help food manufacturers of Pakistan in improving their operational and environmental performance by practicing the elements of EFQM model.