Critical success factors of lean in the public services sector: the case of the Greek citizen's service centers

PurposeThe aim of this study is to determine the most critical success factors (CSFs) of lean adoption in a specific Greek public services subsector namely citizen's service centers (CSCs) and to define their underlying structure (latent constructs).Design/methodology/approachIn this study an online structured questionnaire survey was distributed to all the Greek CSCs and six hundred and seventy-two employees responded and fully completed the questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were applied to assess the reliability and validity of the latent constructs of the Lean CSFs.FindingsData analysis revealed that the latent constructs of the lean CSFs, namely communication, top management commitment and leadership, organizational culture, training and education, change and project management, availability of resources, teamwork, and employee involvement and empowerment are of major importance for the adoption of lean in the CSCs.Research limitations/implicationsThe small percentage of the responding employees of the Greek CSCs, given their large population and the subjective nature of the data collected constitute the main limitations of the present study.Practical implicationsThe findings of this research can guide managers and decision makers of CSCs in recognizing the key factors that potentially will influence the successful adoption of lean, and the enhancement of the quality management initiatives of these services organizations. Moreover, the formulated model can also serve as a reference for academics and researchers to generate new research ideas. Finally, the results may offer guidelines to managers of public services organizations of other countries with a similar structure of the public sector.Originality/valueThe present study is stimulated by the existing gap identified in the literature in the field of the public sector. Building on the public sector literature, this is the first study that evaluates the importance of the CSFs of lean in the Greek CSCs and defines their underlying structure.