THE INVERSE EFFECT OF TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON SERVICE QUALITY: EVIDENCE FROM A PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION IN THE PHILIPPINES

The role of Total Quality Management (TQM) practices in improving organizations’ output or key results area has been widely documented. However, the focus of evaluation such in the service industry specifically in tertiary education is still much to be desired. In addition, there seem to be a growing number of followings on the downside of TQM practices resulting in poorer service quality provision. This study will shed light on the matter by providing evidence from a private educational institution in the Philippines. The study utilized a descriptive research design and an adopted research questionnaire. The study was participated by 15 faculty members and 75 students under the former. The results of the study showed that the level of implementation of TQM practice does significantly influence service quality (F=4.965, p=0.0441) at 0.05. However, the influence was found to be inverted as a higher level of practice leads to lower service quality as evidenced by the negative coefficient value of -0.181. These findings support those studies that suggest that the increasing practice of TQM, especially for educators, significantly increases work intensity and stress at the expense of employee motivation resulting to conflicting interest and thus sacrificing service quality for the sake of compliance of expected quality evidences. JEL: I22, I25, I21 Article visualizations