Insights From the Baldrige Award Item-Level Blinded Applicant Scoring Data

Abstract

This paper examines the item-level applicant scoring data of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award from 1991 to 2006, which were released by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2011. Because the criteria have changed significantly over time, this study required a detailed analysis, definition, and reconciliation of concepts and terminology. This study offers several contributions to the quality management literature. First, the authors' study provides both a longitudinal and a cross-sectional view of the applicant data. They make observations on how award applicants' scores have evolved over time and investigate trends and interindustry differences. Through data visualization and ANOVA, they are able to gain insights on the progress in quality improvement and performance excellence made in these sectors. The authors found support for the declining performance of manufacturing industry and the steady improvement of nonprofit sectors in Baldrige evaluation scores. Moreover, using these national data, the authors provide further evidence for the validity of the theoretical Baldrige framework using confirmatory factor analysis.

• blinded applicant scoring data
• Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award
• sector differences

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James R. Evans

James R. Evans is a professor in the Department of Operations, Business Analytics, and Information Systems in the College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. He has bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial engineering from Purdue, and a doctorate in industrial and systems engineering from Georgia Tech. Evans is the author or co-author of Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence, 9^th Edition and Quality & Performance Excellence: Management, Organization, and Strategy, 7^th Edition, as well as An Introduction to Six Sigma and Process Improvement, all published by Cengage Learning. In 2003, Evans and his co-author received the ASQ Philip Crosby Medal for The Management and Control of Quality, 5^th Edition. He has published close to 100 papers in the fields of operations research, operations management, and quality. Evans is a Fellow and past president of the Decision Sciences Institute, and served as an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award from 1994 to 1996, senior examiner from 1997 to 1999, alumni examiner from 2000 to 2001, and judge from 2004 to 2007. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

Feng Mai

Feng Mai is currently a doctoral candidate in the Department of Operations, Business Analytics, and Information Systems at Carl H. Lindner College of Business, University of Cincinnati. He received a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Wabash College and a master's degree in statistics from Miami University. He has taught undergraduate business courses such as business statistics and decision models. His research interests include user-generated contents, supply chain analytics, and quality management.