Review of Professional Management

The Cultural-capability Nexus: Reconceptualising Lean Six Sigma Preparedness as a Strategic Enabler of Supply Chain Agility

A. Maragathamuthu¹ and P. Thillai Rajan²

First Published 14 May 2026. https://doi.org/10.1177/09728686261445287

Article Information

Corresponding Author:

A. Maragathamuthu, Department of Management Studies, Madurai Kamaraj University, Palkalai Nagar, Madurai 625021, Tamil Nadu, India.
Email: arunagirimaragathamuthu@gmail.com

¹Department of Management Studies, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India

²Department of Business Administration, Thiagarajar College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India

Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-Commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed.

Abstract

This study investigates the ‘cultural-capability nexus’, examining how organisational readiness, defined through leadership commitment, employee empowerment and communicative transparency, acts as a primary driver for Lean Six Sigma (LSS) effectiveness and supply chain capacity optimisation. While traditional operations research focuses on technical throughput, this article conceptualises capacity as a strategic outcome of sociotechnical alignment. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted among 378 supply chain professionals within the Indian manufacturing and logistics sectors. The sample featured a predominantly female (65.9%) and highly experienced workforce, with nearly 80% of respondents possessing over 5 years of industry tenure. Preliminary interviews were utilised to ensure content validity, followed by a structured questionnaire analysed via IBM SPSS (v28.0). Statistical analysis confirms that organisational barriers, specifically resistance to change (M = 4.16) and fragmented project communication (M = 4.25), significantly impede capacity gains. Conversely, the structural model validated six hypotheses, demonstrating that employee empowerment and involvement (EEI) and leadership support (LMS) are critical antecedents to a continuous improvement culture (CIC), with path coefficients exceeding 1.0. Measurement model results (CR > 0.97; AVE > 0.95) and the Fornell–Larcker criterion confirmed high internal consistency and discriminant validity. The findings provide a roadmap for managers to transition LSS from a perceived ‘unrecognised burden’ to a core operational competency. This research bridges the gap between organisational behaviour and operations management by empirically validating cultural readiness as the vital link in the capacity optimisation process.

Keywords

Lean Six Sigma, organisational culture, capacity management, strategic preparedness, supply chain optimisation, operational excellence, change management

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