Leadership Styles and Total Quality Management (TQM) Implementation: Competitor Orientation and Inter-Functional Coordination as Mediators

Abstract

This paper examines the mediating role of competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination between leadership styles and Total Quality Management (TQM) implementation. The empirical data for this study were drawn from a survey of 203 leaders from manufacturing and service firms in Addis Ababa and its surrounding cities to examine the reliability and validity of the independent constructs; mediating constructs (i.e., competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination); and implementation of TQM. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to examine the mediating role of competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination between leadership styles and the implementation of TQM. The result of this study revealed that servant and transactional leadership did have a positive and direct effect on the implementation of TQM, while the relationships were further positively mediated by inter-functional coordination for the servant leadership-TQM relationship and negatively mediated by competitor orientation for the transactional leadership-TQM relationship. On the other hand, transformational leadership had only a positive and indirect effect on implementing TQM through competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination. Our sample companies came from different industries (both manufacturing and service sectors). Hence, future studies could consider samples from manufacturing and service sectors independently to control and reduce the bias resulting from industry differences. The results can be beneficial for the current organizational leaders to achieve appropriate leadership styles and understand the mediating role of competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination between leadership styles and the implementation of TQM.