Lean, process improvement and customer-focused performance. The moderating effect of perceived organisational context

Lean is often considered as a collection of practices that can be used to achieve high operational performance. However, based on contingency theory and the theory of rational accounts, we show that organisations create fit between Lean practices and the perceived organisational context. Specifically, we show that the impact of Lean on process improvement performance is enhanced in an environment where process standardisation is deemed important. However, we also show that Lean is positively related to customer-focused performance and that this relationship is positively moderated in an environment where customer effectiveness is deemed important. Finally, we show that the relationship between Lean and customer-focused performance is partially mediated by the extent of process improvement.