Total Quality Management Principles as Correlates of Effective Performance in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Abia State, Nigeria
Abstract
The study examined total quality management principles as correlates of effective performance in small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Abia State, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study while two research hypotheses were tested. The study adopted correlational design. The population of the study comprised 1,809 entrepreneurs of small and medium-scale enterprises registered with Abia State Ministry of Trade and Investment. Simple random sampling technique was used to sample 328 SME managers for the study. Structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Three experts were used to validate the instrument for data collection. Reliability of the instrument was established using Cronbach’s alpha and it yielded alpha values of 0.89, 0.90, and 0.89 for the three clusters, respectively. Data analysis was done using Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Findings from the study revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between customer focus and effective performance in SME while there was no significant positive correlation between employee education and effective performance in SME. Based on the findings, it was recommended that business educators should adopt learner- centered pedagogies to engage the students more in problem-solving activities involving customer focus and all customer service activities.
Keywords
Total quality managementeffective performancesmall and medium scale enterprises
References
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