An empirical study of total quality management and its influences on nurses' attitude and service performance in healthcare organisations

Previous studies on service performance in healthcare organisations have focused on identifying factors influencing total quality management (TQM) implementation and its effects, primarily on patients, medical doctors, or hospital executives. Although nurses are one of the most important groups of employees in service encounters, there is little research on TQM practices and service performance associated with nurses. The objective of this research is to investigate how TQM practices have an impact on nurses' attitude, and their attitude resultant service performance within healthcare service organisations in South Korea. Based on a survey of 249 nurses from major hospitals in a metropolitan city of Korea, the results indicate that TQM practices have a positive effect on the attitude of nurses, and their attitude in turn results in better service performance. Implications of the findings are discussed and limitations of the study are offered.