Is quantifying performance excellence really profitable? An empirical study of the deployment of the Baldrige Excellence Measurement Model in Indonesia

Abstract

Numerous studies continue to debate the financial benefits of employing the Baldrige Excellence Measurement Model (BEM) for a business. This paper aims to explore this issue by studying the implementation of BEM in Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in 2013–2019 (t). More specifically, we analyze the relationship between the BEM in the current year (t) and the financial performance in the previous year (2012–2018/t-1) and the following year (2014–2020/t+1) using non-financial performance as a mediating variable. This method is intended to discover whether measuring the results for the current year considers the company's performance from the previous year and stimulates progress in the following year. This quantitative study is based on a sample of 174 firms and 3654 observational data points. Employing partial least square–path modeling (PLS-PM), we find that BEM deployment is strongly related to non-financial performance as measured by corporate social responsibility activities, customer satisfaction, workforce quality, and total productivity. Nevertheless, this relationship does not predict financial success for the company, as measured by profitability, financial leverage risk, and shareholder return. Other findings indicate that the BEM on SOEs is not implemented properly, as evidenced by an unbalanced weight score between financial and non-financial performance, non-independent examiners, and political interests at the leadership level. Hence, SOEs are unlikely to gain financially from BEM deployment. A more specific explanation is presented in the discussion and implication sections.