Structural Impact of Lean Manufacturing Practice Bundles on Corporate Sustainability in Malaysia

In Malaysia, as organisations in the public and private sectors intensify their efforts to extend their goals related to sustainability, the issue has turned into a strategic one. Sustainability data, particularly ESG data, has the potential to significantly enhance Malaysia's sustainability environment. Nevertheless, such data remains difficult to access, particularly for the manufacturing sector in Malaysia. Hence, this study investigates the influence of lean practices on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting in Malaysian manufacturing organisations, given the critical role that private sector participation plays in enabling the accomplishment of Malaysian sustainability. The purpose of this research is to better understand how stakeholders monitor and manage sustainability, as well as the potential influence of lean practices on sustainability in the private sector, particularly in Malaysian manufacturing. This research adopts a quantitative research design, data was collected from 115 manufacturing firms through structured survey distributed to middle and upper management. The structural model analysis reveals that lean manufacturing practices, when implemented as an integrated bundle, explain a substantial percentage of the variance across all three sustainability pillars: 63.7% for Economic, 62.2% for Environmental, and 58.7% for Social sustainability. At a granular level, the findings uncover the absolute path dominance of Gemba Walks (Floor Leadership Engagement) as the most robust and statistically significant driver of sustainability performance across the TBL. Conversely, traditional structural tools such as 5S, TPM, and Kaizen demonstrated weak and non-significant direct path relationships in this specific sample, suggesting they function as secondary stabilizing platforms rather than immediate performance drivers. This research provides empirical validation emphasizing that Malaysian manufacturers should adopt lean practices as a holistic, unified system driven by active leadership on the shop floor to effectively meet reporting demands and enhance corporate responsibility.

Lean Manufacturing Practices, Sustainability Performance, Triple Bottom Line (TBL), Malaysian Manufacturing

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