The Impact of Quality Assurance Practices on Employee Productivity in the Apparel Sector in Sri Lanka: Special Reference to Three Leading Apparel Manufacturers in Sri Lanka

The purpose of this research is to measure the impact of quality assurance practices on employee productivity in the apparel sector in Sri Lanka. In doing so, it is expected to minimize the quality assurance failures and increase employee productivity in the Apparel industry whilst applying quality standards on production. The research is designed as a quantitative study and a sample of 300 participants from three apparel companies is selected through the simple random sampling technique. Data collection was performed through a questionnaire survey. Mean value of variables and multiple linear regression model with forward regression technique are used to analyze the responses and determine the relationship among variables. The questionnaire is checked for validity and reliability. The results reveal that quality assurance practices of six sigma, 5S, and total quality management have a significant positive impact on employee productivity, but benchmarking has an insignificant negative impact on employee productivity. The managers can provide training to employees to achieve positive outcomes of quality assurance practices. Self-accountability can be improved by allocating employee time for work and social networking. Optimizing the organization’s working conditions can be arranged based on infrastructure, ventilation, and minimal disturbances to motivate employees to be more productive. Quality assurance practices explored in this study contribute to providing flexibility and more opportunities for workers and addressing the role conflicts with strong impacts on the employee wellbeing. This leads to positive organizational outcomes. Keywords: Apparel industry, Benchmarking, Employee productivity, Quality assurance, Six sigma, Sri Lanka, Total quality management, 5S.