These findings emphasize the need for future research in four areas. First, they
suggest that national culture is not a context variable that influences either the
appropriate level of transformational leadership or QM practices at least in Thailand.
This finding differs from Zhang’s (2000) research that suggests that the external
environment (i.e. the national culture) is a major context variable. Zhang argues that
Chinese quality conformance levels are constrained by the existing market
environment. For example, Chinese companies do not establish long-term business
goals and pursue quantity and speed while ignoring quality. This finding may suggest
that Thailand has a culture that is more supportive of QM practices than other
developing countries. This needs to be examined in other national cultures.
Second, this study had several limitations that should be addressed in future
studies. There was only one respondent per company, so there is the possibility of
common method variance (Ketokivi and Schroeder, 2004). And, this study used
self-reported quality performance data, which may allow common method bias.
Third, further examination of the transformational and transactional leadership
constructs is needed. It is not clear whether the reason for so many dimensions
collapsing is the short scale used in this research or other problems with the constructs.
Fourth, further investigation of the role of transactional leadership on quality
performance is needed. The positive relationship of transactional leadership to quality
performance was not expected. This finding contradicts theoretical arguments that
transactional leadership would lead to lower levels of quality performance as employees
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