Relationship Between Servant Leadership and Total Quality Management Practices: Mediating Effects of Interfunctional Coordination– An Empirical Study Concerning the Information Technology Industry, Hyderabad

Although there is a growing body of evidence supporting the significance of servant leadership as a basic component in shaping the execution of TQM practices, the research has not fully examined the framework associated with servant leadership in terms of “customer focus, people management, process management, strategic planning, information and analysis” in general and in the information technology industry. Therefore, the authors conducted this empirical research examining the associations among servant leadership and the abovementioned TQM practices in the information technology industry. This empirical study also examined the mediating role of interfunctional coordination in TQM practices in the context of servant leadership. We gathered data from 335 leaders in 57 software companies in the information technology industry with at least a capability maturity model (CMM) level 3 to CMM5 companies providing software development and services. The data were collected from team leaders, project heads, project managers, lead testers, and higher-level managers of the marketing and operations management area. We investigated how servant leadership interacts with the application of these five TQM practice components and the mediating role of the interfunctional coordination construct in this interaction. To accomplish this goal, we empirically investigated a structural model and mediation models by bootstrapping and SEM with IBM AMOS (IBM, 2023). The model fit indices CMIN/DF 1.724, CFI 0.953, TLI 0.938, NFI 0.920, SRMR 0.049, RMSEA 0.049, and PCl close 0.624 indicate excellent model fit, and further investigation was carried out. The findings showed that putting TQM practices into practice was positively and directly correlated with servant leadership. Interfunctional coordination partially mediates TQM practices through servant leadership, with a positive association. The results confirm the influence of servant leadership on TQM practices in the information technology industry.