Configuring the drivers and carriers of process innovation in manufacturing organizations

In today's hyper-competitive manufacturing world, the rapidly changing landscape has put new demands on organizations, and they need to reinvent themselves by injecting new strategies in order to stay ahead of the competition. Therefore, to achieve world-class performance and competitiveness in the global environment and competition, there is immense pressure on manufacturing organizations with limited resources to invariably pursue main drivers to enable them to improve process innovation. In this backdrop, this questionnaire-based study investigates the impact of various enabling practices on process innovation of manufacturing organizations. The questionnaire package included scales of lean manufacturing (LM), organizational culture (OC), human resource management (HRM), total quality management (TQM), supply chain management (SCM) and process innovation (PI). The data were collected through convenient sampling technique from presidents, CEO's, directors, managers and senior supervisors of different functional areas of large-scale organizations. The theoretical model was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) through AMOS. The key findings revealed positive and significant relationships of LM, HRM and OC as drivers with TQM and SCM. The results also demonstrated affirmative and significant associations of TQM and SCM with PI. Similarly, the outcomes indicated that TQM and SCM, as carriers, partially mediate the relationships of LM, HRM and OC with PI. Overall, the findings elucidate the imperativeness for manufacturing organizations to reinforce their mediators (TQM and SCM practices) while effectively implementing LM, HRM and OC practices as drivers of PI. The study has important implications for the organizations seeking to determine the relative importance of various practices as an effective source of process innovation.