Author(s)

Qunxiang Zhang^1*, Xiaobin Feng², Xuan Xiang³

¹School of Economics & Management, Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University, Lin’an, China.
²School of Economics & Management, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China.
³School of Management, Taizhou Vocational & Technical College, Taizhou, China.

Do quality management (QM) practices foster or hinder innovation? Attempts have been made to investigate this relationship, but the research has shown inconsistent results. Drawing on a review of related literature, this study proposes a theoretical model and a hypothesis in the Chinese con-text, with the aim of investigating the impact of QM practices on innovation performance. The investigation was made up of 383 questionnaires from nine Chinese provinces and cities. From here, this study further analyses the moderating effects of market turbulence on the relationship be-tween QM practices and innovation performance. The results show that both QM infrastructure practices and core QM practices have a positive effect on innovation performance. Additionally, it is found that market turbulence positively moderates the relationship between the QM infrastructure practices and product innovation performance, but negatively moderates the relationship between core QM practices and process innovation performance. However, market turbulence does not moderate the relationship between infrastructure practices and process innovation performance; also, the moderating effects of core practices and product innovation performance are not significant.

Do quality management (QM) practices foster or hinder innovation? Attempts have been made to investigate this relationship, but the research has shown inconsistent results. Drawing on a review of related literature, this study proposes a theoretical model and a hypothesis in the Chinese con-text, with the aim of investigating the impact of QM practices on innovation performance. The in-vestigation was made up of 383 questionnaires from nine Chinese provinces and cities. From here, this study further analyses the moderating effects of market turbulence on the relationship be-tween QM practices and innovation performance. The results show that both QM infrastructure practices and core QM practices have a positive effect on innovation performance. Additionally, it is found that market turbulence positively moderates the relationship between the QM infrastructure practices and product innovation performance, but negatively moderates the relationship between core QM practices and process innovation performance. Ho

Zhang, Q. , Feng, X. and Xiang, X. (2016) The Impact of Quality Management Practices on Innovation in China: The Moderating Effects of Market Turbulence. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 6, 291-304. doi: 10.4236/ajibm.2016.63027.