HRM and TQM: association with job involvement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of individual employees on the influence of eight elements of HRM/TQM (i.e. leadership, training and development, employee participation, reward and recognition, customer focus, empowerment, teamwork, and communication) on employees' job involvement in six major Malaysian semiconductor contract manufacturing organizations. Despite extensive research and voluminous literature on HRM/TQM, very little empirical research has examined this scope of investigative study. Therefore, the hypotheses are developed with the intention of examining this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – Original researches using self‐completed questionnaires, distributed to employees within these organizations, are thoroughly reported. The study sample consisted of 377 employees, resulting in a response rate of 75.4 percent. A questionnaire developed by Kanungo was used for ascertaining the level of overall job involvement. Data were analyzed by employing correlation and multiple regression analysis. Findings – The results of this study revealed that teamwork, empowerment, customer focus, reward and recognition and communication are positively associated with employees' job involvement. Where empowerment was found to be a dominant practice, strong associations with employees' job involvement existed. Originality/v alue – This study contributes in advancing the HRM/TQM research literature to a better understanding of the association between HRM/TQM and employees' job involvement within the context of the Malaysian semiconductor sector.