The impact of organisational variables and quality performance on customer satisfaction

There is a considerable emphasis on the impact of operational practices on performance in many studies. However, there is a lack of empirical studies on the organisational variables and their effects on conformance quality, design quality and customer satisfaction. Thus, the study of the relationship between organisational variables and quality performance is critical for firms and researchers to better understand the effects of organisational variables onto different levels of quality performance. The purpose of this paper is therefore, to examine the effects of organisational variables on conformance quality, design quality and customer satisfaction in quality management system. This study was conducted by distributing questionnaires to 243 ISO certified manufacturing firms in Malaysia. The result of the analysis showed that leadership for quality, quality culture, quality strategy, quality technology and tool, rewards and recognition, respectively, have a direct positive significant relationship towards conformance quality, design quality and customer satisfaction. The results contributed to a better understanding on how organisational quality variables, mediated by design quality and conformance quality, can be effectively employed by whole manufacturing firms, thus influencing customer satisfaction.