Work instruction quality in industrial management

•Literature on work instruction quality is sparse.•A work instruction quality framework is proposed.•The framework includes 15 quality dimensions.•The framework is investigated by case studies at two engineer-to-order companies.•The framework may guide industrial managers.

Employees who must rely upon poor quality work instructions are less efficient and have lower job satisfaction. Thus, it is in most companies' interest to avoid this type of situation. However, a literature review revealed that literature on work instruction quality is sparse. To address this issue, this paper proposes a framework for understanding information quality of work instructions in industrial management contexts. The framework includes 15 dimensions of work instructional information quality problems, which are grouped into five categories: intrinsic problems, representational problems, unmatched information, questionable information, and inaccessible information. To illustrate the relevance of the framework in an industrial management context, studies of two engineer-to-order companies were carried out. The studies revealed that the companies experienced problems related to all 15 dimensions. The framework may be used as a guide for industrial managers who wish to avoid instances of employees performing work based on poor quality instructions.