Investigating the effects of managerial and technological innovations on operational performance and customer satisfaction of manufacturing companies

TLDR: In this paper, the authors examined the direct and indirect effects of managerial and technological innovations on customer satisfaction as well as the indirect effects through operational performance and found that managerial innovation significantly and positively affects overall operational performance, quality performance, delivery performance, and flexibility performance.

Abstract: This study constructs multi-item scales to measure key components of managerial and technological innovations and examines their impact on operational performance. It also examines the direct effects of managerial and technological innovations on customer satisfaction as well as the indirect effects through operational performance. Data were collected from 214 manufacturing plants in the machinery, electrical and electronics and automobile industries in seven countries - Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea and the USA. We find that managerial innovation significantly and positively affects overall operational performance, quality performance, delivery performance, and flexibility performance. The results show that technological innovation significantly and positively affects overall operational performance, cost performance, delivery performance, flexibility performance, and innovative performance. We also find that both types of innovation have a direct effect and an indirect effect through operational performance on customer satisfaction.