{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T18:13:06Z","timestamp":1773425586641,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,5]],"date-time":"2016-09-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1473033600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2016,9,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 Top management commitment is considered a significant factor in improvement programmes, and many papers have been written about the role of top management commitment in implementing a quality management system. However, not considering other management levels\u2019 commitment, such as middle management, may lead to issues in achieving organisational development. Public organisations that work through vertical structures may face a lack of middle management commitment, which might have a negative impact on lower and non-management staff commitment to improvement programmes. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of middle management\u2019s commitment towards improvement initiatives in public organisations.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 Empirical research with a mixed-method design used semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire to explore the current practices of continuous improvement (CI) and examine employees\u2019 views from different management levels of the implications of current improvements in a Saudi public service organisation.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 The analysis indicated that the lower managers and non-management staff agree that, after the implementation of the quality management system, the organisation\u2019s middle management showed a lack of commitment to that system. Moreover, this lack of commitment is recognised in the analysis of participants\u2019 views of CI practices recorded in the questionnaire and interviews. This lack of commitment has caused poor employee commitment and thus a lack of problem solving in organisational departments. It is also responsible for a lack of employee involvement, the centralisation of decisions, deficiencies in terms of determining and applying training, inequality between employees and a lack of trust between employees and their managers. These issues could be managed and resolved through middle management and their commitment.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Practical implications<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 Increasing middle managers\u2019 awareness of the importance of their commitment to improvement initiatives can have an impact on employees\u2019 commitment towards improvement initiatives, especially in those public organisations that have vertical\/hierarchical structures. The level of commitment towards the implementation of improvement programmes needs further in-depth analyses to identify which factors influence public organisation leaders\u2019 commitment to improvement programmes.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-heading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>\u2013 The results of this study could motivate middle managers in public organisations to review their policies and to facilitate CI initiatives.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/bpmj-01-2016-0018","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2016,8,9]],"date-time":"2016-08-09T06:44:31Z","timestamp":1470725071000},"page":"924-938","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":23,"title":["The impact of middle management commitment on improvement initiatives in public organisations"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Abdullah","family":"Alhaqbani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Deborah M","family":"Reed","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Barbara M","family":"Savage","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Jana","family":"Ries","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2020121304153826300_b1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Achanga, P. , Esam, S. , Rajkumar, R. and Geoff, N. 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