Cross-national stability of a quality management model: a comparative study of the United States and Turkey

This study explores the perceptions of American and Turkish managers with respect to different dimensions of product quality. Survey data on perceptions of product quality were obtained from managers in both countries. Analyses using structural equation modeling and mean comparison tests were performed to evaluate five research hypotheses. Results provided partial support for the hypothesized differences in quality perceptions. The data indicated that although the conceptualization of quality did not differ across the two samples, there were some differences in terms of importance assigned to various aspects of quality. In particular, Turkish managers rated aspects pertaining to communication and shared definition, quality execution, and quality control higher than American managers. Implications for the rationalist and culturalist approaches to international management are discussed.