Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine lean manufacturing (LM) practices and to quantify their impact on business performance (BP), with particular emphasis on the mediating role of operational performance (OP) in deriving the BP benefits commonly linked with LM. It also seeks to identify those lean practices most appropriate for application.Design/methodology/approach: Empirical data on LM practices were collected using a structured survey questionnaire. The sampling frame was Jordanian companies registered and listed by the Amman Chamber of Commerce. In total, 500 questionnaires were distributed among 300 companies and a total of 249 completed questionnaires were eligible for statistical processing, a response rate of 49.8 percent. Invalid questionnaires were eliminated, leaving 228 usable. The theoretical relations were tested by structural equation modeling.Findings: Although the results of the statistical analysis indicate a positive and significant impact of implementing LM practices on both OP and BP, they also show that the various LM practices did not receive equal recognition among the organizations surveyed. The most commonly adopted lean principles were found to be total preventive maintenance, statistical process control and housekeeping 5S.Research limitations/implications: Other lean practices have not been considered as a dimension in this study. However, it opens new avenues of investigation relevant to lean practices.Practical implications: The most significant implication of the study is that managers in manufacturing firms should place more emphasis on LM practices when developing strategies for leveraging performance. The study shows that the LM approach contributes to BP when LM practices are simultaneously implemented.Originality/value: The originality of this study lies in the new context in which it was conducted. The study adds value by investigating the implementation of LM practices which have been transferred from developed to developing countries and by empirically examining their impact on key performance indicators within the Jordanian manufacturing sector.

Purpose: The potential for the adoption of a knowledge management system (KMS) is becoming a crucial matter in small and medium enterprises (SMEs); however, there is a scarcity of studies related to KMS adoption in SMEs. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to advance further our understanding of the factors that influence the KMS adoption process among SMEs. Design/methodology/approach: The collected sample size was 247 respondents. For statistical analysis, Smart partial least square (PLS) (a structural model-based tool) was used to build, run and validate the process model. PLS regression techniques were used to analyze the latent constructs. Smart PLS exhibits both the measurement model and the structural model. Findings: The results indicate that knowledge management capabilities, knowledge sharing, organizational learning capabilities and IT capabilities are the significant factors which influence KMS adoption. This study also identifies some unexpected results. Research limitations/implications: The number of responses obtained from the survey was rather small. However, a larger number of responses would probably have resulted in a more accurate finding. Additionally, this study should be verified via a larger sample to increase its generalization. Practical implications: The result of this study will provide SMEs with valuable guidelines to better understand what factors should be considered as highly important and thus providing decision makers and managers with valuable insights to increase the adoption level of KMSs. Originality/value: The study addresses the research gap by developing and empirically validating a research model of KMS adoption from a different perspective that incorporates critical issues which have never been simultaneously examined.

The main aim of this study is to enhance and go beyond the conventional service profit chain model (SPC) by adding new intervening variables suggested in the relevant literature. Empirical data were obtained from 201 service companies from different service businesses using a survey approach; 603 questionnaires were collected from three perspectives: customers, front-line employees, and managers. A SmartPLS package was used to check data reliability and validity and to test hypotheses for paths using a Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach. The findings of this study revealed that internal service quality (ISQ) enhanced employee satisfaction and that employees’ attitudes induced higher external service value and customer responsiveness alongside organizational performance. In addition, most of the intervening factors and links within the new SPC framework suggested in this study were supported. This study contributes to the relevant literature by adding new mediating factors to the conventional model. Hence, this study extends the integrative mechanism for how a firm’s internal operational activities will be translated into customer perceptions and business performance in the Saudi context.

This paper advances our knowledge of information systems (IS) by drawing ideas and insights from IT/IS evaluation. The emergence and increasing pressure to invest in new IS architecture and infrastructures has become a high priority issue within organisations, and largely influenced by the need to deliver better value products and service through robust and responsive supply chains. With this in mind, business managers are seeking to use appropriate methods and techniques to appraise and justify the financial contribution of IS at strategic, operational and tactical levels. Thus, comprehensive but understandable methodologies are needed to solve the complicated project justification problems arising from the complexity of new technologies. Notwithstanding, a wide body of literature has emerged that sheds light on various methods for evaluating the cost and benefits of IT/IS investment, ranging from simple to very complex techniques. This paper sets out to provide a review of this literature in order to lend insights into our understanding of the plethora of reported research in the literature that has propagated investment justification and benefits management models and frameworks. We show that the IT/IS evaluation literature contributes significantly to scholarship on the IS.

This study aims to introduce new insights regarding factors influencing employees’ level of training motivation through investigating the impact of job satisfaction dimensions (pay, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, promotion, supervision, co-workers, operating conditions, nature of work and communication) on training motivation.Data were collected from 342 participants from six Jordanian ministries. The multiple regression technique was utilized to examine the predictive power of job satisfaction dimensions on training motivation. At the next stage, three sequential MR analysis rounds were conducted, each time using a different construct of training motivation (valence, instrumentality and expectancy) as a dependent variable.The results indicate that the dimensions of job satisfaction explain a low but significant variance of the overall training motivation model. Furthermore, it was found that only three dimensions of job satisfaction (nature of work, supervision and co-workers) respectively had a positive and significant impact on training motivation, while contingent rewards had a significant but negative impact.Regarding training motivation constructs, results indicate that the nature of work and supervision were the elements that have an impact on all constructs of training motivation. Finally, it was found that co-workers and contingent rewards had a significant impact on the training motivation constructs of expectancy (confidence in ability to learn) and valence (the perceived value of training outcomes), but no impact on instrumentality (rewards associated with learning).