Sustaining the Benefits of a Quality Initiative through Cooperative Values: A Longitudinal Study

Although research has shown that organizational cultural values influence the success of quality initiatives, how and when cultural values are influential is unclear. This longitudinal study asserts that quality management should be viewed from a dynamic perspective to better understand the role of cooperative cultural values in a quality initiative. We use a multilevel model of quality management, and develop time-oriented hypotheses using a sociotechnical systems perspective to examine the role of cooperative values. Our analysis uses longitudinal data from over 30 U.S. federal government agencies, collected during an enterprise-wide quality initiative. We find that, over time, the influence of organization-level quality practices diminishes, but the influence of cooperative values increases; workgroup-level quality practices remain consistently important. Our findings reveal the unexplored influences of cooperative values to sustain the benefits of quality management.