An Empirical Study of the Posturing-Implementation Gap in Quality Management

Abstract

Existing studies show that top management commitment to quality is a major factor in determining the success of a company's quality management program. Many of these studies measure the commitment and success of a company's quality management programs using information from the company's own managers. This raises an important research question: Do managers make accurate statements about their commitment to quality and the organization's emphasis on quality? If not, then the conclusions drawn from existing studies that relied on these statements will he inaccurate. The aim of this study is to answer that research question using the textual data in annual reports and external measures of organizational emphasis on quality.Annual reports are a key communication vehicle used by senior managers to articulate important matters of the firm, such as their commitment to qualify and to its stakeholders. In this study, the textual content of 100 randomly selected annual reports of firms listed in Fortune's 1988 list of “America's Most Admired Corporations” was analyzed to measure their emphasis on quality. This measure was then compared against external measures of each organization's emphasis on qualify. The strong positive relationship between senior management's annual report emphasis on quality and external measures indicates that senior management's assertions about organizational commitment to quality appear accurate.