An Empirical Study Of Work Design On The Implementation Of Mass Customization

Mass customization is the Western scholars in the1980s to the manufacturing model. It is amass production of customized products, the ability to make big changes without the need forcost, delivery and quality. As a new manufacturing model, it draws the extensive attention ofChina’s industry and academia in recent years. Many companies began to introduce theimplementation of this new model. In practice, they often viewed it from a technical point ofawareness and understanding of mass customization, such as modular, delay in manufacturing,but the desired results are not available. In theory, research from the perspective oforganization and management has not yet attracted attention, empirical research has to becarried out to China’s enterprises.Foreign scholars have drawn some conclusions based on studies on mass customization andfirm performance. In China, large-scale custom application practice is still in the exploratorystage. The literature on mass customization,is both concerned about the product family,modular and delay manufacturing, and other technical aspects. Domestic and foreignacademic circles are not yet published any results of empirical research on masscustomization based on the Chinese mainland enterprises sample. How does the personneland organizational factors play in the implementation of mass customization? As the basis ofthe personnel and organizational management, how does job design make an effect to theimplementation of mass customization? Based on the above issues, it’s necessary to carry outsome analysis and research on the relationship of job design, mass customization, andcorporate performance. The conclusions of the study can provide not only some empiricalevidences to the research on job design, mass customization and performance, but also someuseful suggestions for our manufacturing to explore the implementation of masscustomization. It is also of great significance to enhance the international competitiveness ofChina’s manufacturing industry.This study bases on two issues:(1) the impact of job design to mass customization;(2) theimpact on firm performance. This study proposed the conceptual model and researchhypotheses of the relationship between mass customization and enterprise performance based on the existing literature. It analyzes210valid questionnairs using SPSS and AMOS software.The results show that: first, employee empowerment and incentive pay have significantlypositive impact on mass customization, which indicates that China’s enterprises can enhancemass customization capability through appropriate authorization for staff and implementationof differentiated compensation. Second, in the Chinese context, there is no significant directimpact on feedback, cross-training to mass customization, but it shows an indirectly impactthrough independent maintenance. Third, this study verified a very significant positive impacton mass customization to operational and financial performance, which indicates thatChinese enterprises can implement mass customization to improve business performance.