Identification and adoption of total quality management practices in Indian information and communication technology and banking industries: an empirical study

The Indian service sector forms a backbone of social and economic growth of the country and emerged as the largest and fastest developing sector. Apart from the several service industries in this sector, two major functional pillars of this sector are information and communication technology (ICT) and banking industries. These two service industries have been making continuous efforts to stand India a front-runner in the age of quality revolution and in the overall growth of Indian service sector. Further, these industries are also adopting many strategic approaches to maintain number one position in the world market, one of them is total quality management (TQM) approach which utilizes some sound TQM practices resulting in enhanced business performance. In this study, the key TQM practices in the two Indian service industries (i.e. ICT and banking) are identified and ranked through extensive survey of literature as well as investigated the adoption of the identified practices across these industries. The research methodology used was review of literature based on TQM studies in service sector followed by a survey of selected Indian ICT and banking companies through self-administered questionnaire. Using empirical data gathered from a sample of 121 ICT and banking industries obtained from stratified sampling method, findings were reported. The primary data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and independent-samples t-test analyses. The literature identified 17 TQM practices and further analysis of these TQM practices in the two industries categorizes them into three categories i.e. most important, moderately important and least important. The study also revealed that out of 17 TQM practices, 14 practices were significantly adopted across Indian ICT and banking industries while three practices namely supplier management, quality system and quality culture have showed significant difference in their adoption. Finally, some managerial implications and scope for future research are presented at the end.