This study examines employee resistance as a boundary condition shaping the effectiveness of customer focus on firm productivity after Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) implementation in Sharjah Forensic Laboratory, UAE. Grounded in the Resource-Based View, customer focus is treated as an organizational quality resource that can improve productivity when service-user needs, feedback, and responsiveness are translated into daily laboratory practices. Employee resistance is examined as a behavioral condition that may alter the extent to which this customer-oriented capability becomes productive in a post-LIMS environment. A quantitative survey design was used with 121 usable responses from laboratory employees, and the data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with bootstrapping. The selected constructs demonstrated strong reliability and validity: customer focus (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.927, composite reliability = 0.929, AVE = 0.734), employee resistance (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.916, composite reliability = 0.916, AVE = 0.707), and firm productivity (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.881, composite reliability = 0.885, AVE = 0.738). The results show that customer focus was positively and significantly related to firm productivity (beta = 0.421, t = 2.985, p = 0.001). More importantly, employee resistance significantly moderated this relationship (beta = 0.384, t = 2.415, p = 0.001), indicating that the productivity value of customer focus depends on employees’ acceptance of post-LIMS quality and service practices. The study contributes by showing that customer focus is not merely a service principle but a productivity resource whose effectiveness is behaviorally contingent in technology-enabled forensic laboratory settings.
Aichouni, A. B. E., Silva, C., & Ferreira, L. M. D. (2024). A systematic literature review of the integration of total quality management and industry 4.0: Enhancing sustainability performance through dynamic capabilities. Sustainability, 16(20), 9108.
Alsaqer, S., Katar, I. M., & Abdelhadi, A. (2024). Investigating TQM strategies for sustainable customer satisfaction in GCC telecommunications. Sustainability, 16(15), 6401. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16156401
Barney, J. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management, 17(1), 99-120.
Dean Jr, J. W., & Bowen, D. E. (1994). Management theory and total quality: improving research and practice through theory development. Academy of Management Review, 19(3), 392-418.
Drucker, P. F. (1999). Knowledge-worker productivity: The biggest challenge. California Management Review, 41(2), 79-94.
Edayan, J. M., Gallemit, A. J., Sacala, N. E., Palmer, X. L., Potter, L., Rarugal, J., & Velasco, L. C. (2024). Integration technologies in laboratory information systems: A systematic review. Informatics in medicine unlocked, 50, 101566.
Fangqi, D., Irfan, M., & Baloch, Z. (2023). Revolutionizing quality performance through digitization, technology management, and environmental management: a cutting-edge PLS-SEM model analysis with organizational agility as mediator and culture as moderator. Frontiers in environmental science, 11, 1169145.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2019). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.
Oreg, S. (2006). Personality, context, and resistance to organizational change. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 15(1), 73-101.
Ramasamy, G., & Avadaiyar, P. (2024). Total quality management (TQM) for sustainable growth performance in the private healthcare sector. Problems and Perspectives in Management, 22(4), 229–242. https://doi.org/10.21511/ppm.22(4).2024.18
Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., Sinkovics, N., & Sinkovics, R. R. (2023). A perspective on using partial least squares structural equation modelling in data articles. Data in Brief, 48, 109074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2023.109074
Tomlinson, E., Goodman, J., Loftus, M., Bitto, S., Carpenter, E., Oddo, R., Judis, L., Ali, S., Robinson, W. E., Carver, M., Ganea, M., McDonnell, K., O’Neill, D., Starbuck, J., Johnson, E., Meister, E., Pohl, J., Spildener, J., Shurtleff, S., Sovie, S. 2022). A model for design and implementation of a laboratory information-management system specific for molecular pathology laboratory operations. The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, 24(5), 503–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoldx.2022.01.002
Valtonen, A., & Holopainen, M. (2025). Mitigating employee resistance and achieving well-being in digital transformation. Information Technology & People, 38(8), 42-72.
Alkhayyal, S. O. M., & Rasi, R. Z. B. R. M. (2026). Employee Resistance as a Boundary Condition of Customer Focus Effectiveness in Post-LIMS Forensic Laboratory Productivity. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 16(7), 293–309.
Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s)
Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
