۱- Introduction

۲- Theoretical foundation and hypotheses development

۳- Research methodology

۴- Discussion, implications, and limitations

۵- Conclusion

References

Abstract

Considering the environmental deterioration and dwindling natural resources, the present study aims to investigate the structural relationship between total quality management (TQM) and corporate sustainability (CS), and examines how TQM practices can facilitate firms to achieve CS objectives. This study also analyses the important role of knowledge management (KM) in the relationship between TQM and CS and investigates how KM mediates the relationship between TQM and CS. Six TQM practices were taken from The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) model; CS was comprised of environmental, social, and economic sustainability, and KM was measured through knowledge creation, acquisition, sharing, and application. The data was collected from medium and large-sized organizations from the manufacturing and services firms located in Pakistan. The theoretical model and hypotheses were tested through structural equation modelling (SEM). The results indicate that TQM has a significant and positive impact on CS, and KM partially mediates the relationship between them. The dimensional level analysis indicates that TQM has an insignificant relationship with knowledge creation and KM has an insignificant relationship with environmental sustainability. The findings provide valuable insights to the management of manufacturing and services industries and how they can ensure the sustainability in their organizations through TQM and KM.

Introduction

Considering the technological, social, political, and environmental changes occurred during the last few decades, an organization’s ability to acquire and sustain competitive advantage has become a real challenge (Cancino et al., 2018). These changes not only lead to more options for customers but have also altered their preferences and demands (Habib et al., 2019). Moreover, the increased customers’ awareness about the dwindling natural resources, water, air and soil pollution (Li et al., 2018), and change in natural climate are forcing firms to adopt environmentfriendly practices and minimise their reliance on fossil fuel resulting in ecological vulnerabilities (Yuan and Xiang, 2018). In the present era, dynamic organizations prefer to follow multiple strategies at the same time and support their prime strategy with subsequent strategies (Yusr et al., 2017) so that they can achieve the goal of sustainable development (SD) in an efficient and effective manner (Abbas, 2019). According to United Nations’ Brundtland Commission report, organizational development will be considered as SD if it fulfils the present generation’s needs without compromising the future generation’s ability to meet their needs (UN, 1987). This definition indicates the value of stakeholders and the environment, such as future generations and natural resources (particularly non-renewable ones), and symbolize that to achieve sustainability, organizations must behave ethically and value them. Corporate sustainability(CS) consists of three dimensions, namely social sustainability, which relates to people and society, environmental sustainability, which focuses on earth and natural resources, and economic sustainability, which concentrates on the financial aspects of firms (Shahzad et al., 2019). Some studies also used the term Triple Bottom Line (TBL) for these dimensions.