Quality Information and Quality Performance: Roles of Process Control as a Mediator and Shop Floor Leadership as a Moderator

This study investigates (1) the effect of quality information on quality performance through process control and (2) the moderating role of shop floor leadership on the relationship between quality information and quality performance in the context of manufacturing plants on a global basis. The moderated mediation analysis with a bootstrapping approach was employed to analyse data for hypotheses testing. The data is from the fourth-round dataset of the High Performance Manufacturing Project, collected from manufacturing plants worldwide. The results indicate that (1) quality information is positively associated with quality performance through process control, and (2) shop floor leadership (i.e., supervisory interaction facilitation) positively moderates the indirect effect of quality information on quality performance; that is, the shop floor leadership practice strengthens the effect of quality information on quality performance through process control. This study also has a practical implication for top managers who should consider the vital role of leadership practices adopted by shop floor supervisors in implementing total quality management practices and should raise awareness that leadership practices are not only for the 'C-suite' but also for shop floor supervisors.