The Relationship between Knowledge Management and Production Quality in Manufacturing Companies in Malaysia: The Mediating Effect of Innovation

摘要

The relationship between knowledge management practices and quality production has not received much attention. The objective of this paper is twofold. The first objective is to investigate this relationship in the Malaysian manufacturing and service firms. The second objective is to investigate the mediating role of these firms 'innovation on this relationship. Six hypothesised relationships were tested using a sample of 201 manufacturing and service firms in Malaysia. The results show that the two dimensions of knowledge management have a significant positive effect on quality production. Furthermore the results showed that innovation does not mediate the relationship between knowledge management and quality production. The implications of the study as well as suggestions for future studies are also discussed.