Quality 4.0 practices toward sustainable excellence in the manufacturing sector

In the Industry 4.0 context, it is very important for companies to apply a comprehensive and sustainable business model to grow steadily and quickly adapt to the fast-changing environment. Although the existing literature has explored Quality 4.0 by integrating Industry 4.0 tools into the TQM system, the question of how Quality 4.0 practices drive sustainable excellence (SE) remains unexplored. Therefore, to fill the gap, this research aims to investigate the relationship between Quality 4.0 practices and SE as well as the role of digital transformation (DT) and digital leadership in this connection, anchoring on the stakeholder theory, the natural resource-based view (NRBR) theory, and the socio-technical system (STS) theory. The research employs the quantitative Structural Equation Model method to analyse empirical data in the manufacturing industry in Vietnam. The findings demonstrate that Quality 4.0 practices positively influence both digital transformation and SE. This study confirmed the mediating role of digital transformation and the moderating role of digital leadership in the relationship between Quality 4.0 practices and SE. The findings of this study contributed to applications of Quality 4.0 practices and digital transformation to improve SE in the manufacturing sector.