Share:


Internal service quality and external service quality using two versions of SERVQUAL scale: An empirical evidence from five malls in the capital city of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Much of service quality research has been carried out on external service quality, i.e., services delivered by organizations to their own customers. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of internal service quality (ISQ) on external service quality (ESQ), under the existence of variables such as learning organization (LO), employee job satisfaction (ES) and employee loyalty (EL). The study posited three conceptual models from which the best one was adopted based on the results of goodness of fitness indices. The sample comprised 500 employees working in five malls in the capital city of Saudi Arabia and 500 customers visited the same places during data collection process. The required data was collected using a questionnaire administered to the participated employees and customers. Out of the distributed questionnaires, 367 questionnaires were returned from employees and 384 questionnaires from customers. Returned questionnaires were analyzed using IMBSPSS.23 and AMOS.22. The results revealed a non-significant influence of LO on ISQ. From employees’ viewpoints, ISQ was regarded as a main driver of their satisfaction and but not of their loyalty. Nevertheless, the findings showed that both employee job satisfaction (EM_SAT) and employee loyalty (EM_LOY) have significant influences on ESQ as measured on the basis of customers’ perspectives. Lastly, ISQ has a significant impact on ESQ.

Keyword : external service quality, internal service quality, employee loyalty, employee job satisfaction, employee-based SERVQUAL, customer-based SERVQUAL

How to Cite
Almohaimmeed, B. M. (2019). Internal service quality and external service quality using two versions of SERVQUAL scale: An empirical evidence from five malls in the capital city of Saudi Arabia. Business: Theory and Practice, 20, 158-169. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2019.15
Published in Issue
Mar 26, 2019
Abstract Views
2075
PDF Downloads
1989
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Abdar Z, Beheshtifar M (2016) Examine the relationship between organizational learning cultures on quality of services of staff in Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2014. Journal of Administrative Management, Education and Training (JAMET) 13 (3): 181-190.

Abu El-Samen A, Alshurideh M (2012) The impact of internal marketing on internal service quality: A case study in a Jor-danian pharmaceutical company. International Journal of Business and Management 7 (19): 84-95.

Ahmed I, Razzaque R, Ramzan M (2011) Examining the links between employee and customer variables of service profit chain: A case of Pakistani banks. Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences 5 (11): 1634-1645.

Al-Ababneh et al. (2018) The impact of internal service quality on job satisfaction in the hotel industry. Research in Hospitality Management 8 (1): 55-62. https://doi.org/10.1080/22243534.2018.1501182

Al-Tit A (2015) The effect of service and food quality on customer satisfaction and hence customer retention. Asian Social Sci-ence 11 (23): 129-139. https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v11n23p129

Al-Tit A (2016) The mediating role of knowledge management and the moderating part of organizational culture between HRM practices and organizational performance. Internatio-nal Business Research 9 (1): 43-54. https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v9n1p43

Al-Tit A (2017) Factors Affecting the Organizational per-formance of manufacturing firms. International Journal of Engineering Business Management 9: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/1847979017712628

Arma A, Hamzah D, Alam S, Ismail M (2016) Learning organi-zation in implementation new public services at Palu Local Government, Indonesia. Journal of Research in Business and Management 3 (12): 8-19.

Bello M, Martin D, Kasim R, Abubakar M, Umar (2017) An exa-mination of relationship between quality municipal services and citizen satisfaction in Malaysian Local Council, Batu Pahat in perspective. Path of Science 3 (5): 1-4. https://doi.org/10.22178/pos.22-2

Berry L, Carbone L, Haeckel S (2002) Managing the total custo-mer experience. MIT Sloan Management Review 43 (3): 85-89.

Bhat M (2004) Correlates of service quality in banks: an empirical investigation. Journal of Services Research 5: 77-99.

Brady MK, Cronin JJ (2001) Some new thoughts on conceptu-alizing perceived service quality: A hierarchical approach. Journal of Marketing 65 (3): 34-49. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.65.3.34.18334

Chaturvedi V (2010) A study of organizational loyalty among employee in service industry: A study with reference to selected service industries in Faridabad. i-manager’s Journal on Management 51 (31): 30-36.

Chow C, Luk P (2005) A strategic service quality approach using analytic hierarchy process. Managing Service Quality 15 (3): 278-289. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604520510597827

Cronin JJ, Taylor SA (1992) Measuring service quality – A reexa-mination and extension. Journal of Marketing 56 (3): 55-68. https://doi.org/10.2307/1252296

Dabholkar PA, Thorp DI, Rentz JO (1996) A Measure of service quality for retail stores: scale development and validation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 24 (3): 3-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02893933

Dauda A, Maishanu M, Mawoli M (2013) Effect of internal service quality on employee job satisfaction: Evidence from Abubakar Gimba Library, IBB University, Lapai – Nigeria. American International Journal of Contemporary Research 3 (6): 88-96.

Dawoood S, Mammona Fahmeeda, Ahmed A (2015) Learning organization: Conceptual and theoretical overview. Interna-tional Journal of Humanities Social Sciences and Education (IJHSSE) 2 (4): 93-98.

De Man S, Gemmel P, Vlerick P, Van Rijk P, Dierckx R (2002) Patients’ and personnel’s perceptions of service quality and patient satisfaction in nuclear medicine. European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 29: 1109-1117. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00259-002-0869-3

Dhurup M (2012) Determinants of internal service quality and the relationship with internal customer satisfaction. African Journal of Business Management 6 (11): 4185-4195. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJBM11.2386

Fadil H, Singh K, Joseph C (2016) The influence of organizational innovation towards internal service quality in MBKS. Pro-cedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 224: 317-324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.491

Fitwi T, Abdissa G (2016) The impact of internal service climate on employees’ job satisfaction: With reference to commercial bank of Ethiopia, Gedeo zone. Global Journal of Management and Business Research 16 (2): 11-30.

Frost FA, Kumar M (2000) INTSERVQUAL – an internal adaptation of the GAP model in a large service organisation. Journal of Services Marketing 14 (5): 358-377. https://doi.org/10.1108/08876040010340991

Grönroos C (1984) A service Quality model and its marketing implications. European Journal of Marketing 18 (4): 36-44. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000004784

Gunawardane G (2009) Relationship between dimensions of internal service quality and the nature of the internal service encounter: A study in the healthcare industry. California Journal of Operations Management 7 (1): 21-30.

Haywood-Farmer J (1988) A conceptual model of service quality. International Journal of Operations & Production Manage-ment 8 (6): 19-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb054839

Hays J, Hill A (2000) A preliminary investigation of the relations-hips between employee motivation/vision, service learning, and perceived service quality. Journal of Operations Mana-gement 250: 1-15.

Hirmukhe J (2012) Measuring internal customers’ perception on service quality using SERVQUAL in administrative service. International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications 2 (3): 1-6.

Iqbal A, Tufail M, Lodhi R (2015) Employee loyalty and orga-nizational commitment in Pakistani organizations. Global Journal of Human Resource Management 3 (1): 1-11.

Iqbal S, Hassan M, Habibah U (2018) Impact of self-service technology (SST) service quality on customer loyalty and behavioral intention: The mediating role of customer satis-faction. Cogent Business & Management 5: 1423770.

Itam U, Singh S (2017) Examining the mediation effect of em-ployee engagement on internal brand practices and outcome variables in the organized retail sector. International Business Management 11 (3): 673-682.

Itumalla R, Acharyulu G, Shekhar B (2014) Development of Hos-pitalQual: A service quality scale for measuring. in-patient services in hospital. Operations and Supply Chain Manage-ment 7 (2): 54 -63. https://doi.org/10.31387/oscm0170108

Javadi M, Rezaee M, Salehzadeh R (2013) Investigating the relationship between self-leadership strategies and job sa-tisfaction. International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting. Finance and Management Sciences 3 (3): 284-289. https://doi.org/10.6007/IJARAFMS/v3-i3/178

Joshi P, Chadha SK (2016) Measuring internal service quali-ty in business schools. International Journal of Services and Standards 11 (4): 357-379. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJSS.2016.082434

Jumadi (2014) Influence of internal marketing toward internal service quality and impact to internal customer satisfaction: Case study in tourism industry in Yogyakarta Special Terri-tory of Indonesia. The International Journal of Business & Management 2 (1): 69-73.

Kamakoty J, Sohani N (2013) Measuring service quality in sup-ply chain: Proposed model. Asian Journal of management Research 3 (2): 313-324.

Kang G, James J, Alexandris K (2002) Measurement of internal service quality: Application of the SERVQUAL battery to internal service quality. Managing Service Quality 12 (5): 278-291. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604520210442065

Karatepe O (2012) Perceived organizational support, career satisfaction, and performance outcomes: A study of hotel employees in Cameroon. International Journal of Contem-porary Hospitality Management 24 (5): 735-752. https://doi.org/10.1108/09596111211237273

Kattara H, Weheba D, El-Said O (2008) The impact of employee behavior on customers’ service quality perceptions and overall satisfaction. Tourism and Hospitality Research 8: 309-323. https://doi.org/10.1057/thr.2008.35

Khan M, Kashif-Ur-Rehman, Ijaz-Ur-Rehman, Safwan N, Ahmad A (2011) Modeling link between internal service quality in human resources management and employees retention: A case of Pakistani privatized and public sector banks. African Journal of Business Management 5 (3): 949-959.

Khuong M, Tien B (2013) Factors influencing employee loyalty directly and indirectly through job satisfaction – A study of banking sector in Ho Chi Minh City. International Journal of Current Research and Academic Review 1 (4): 81-95.

Kim P, Han P (2013) Effects of job satisfaction on service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty: The case of a local state-owned enterprise. WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics 1 (10): 49-68.

Kumar V, Smart P, Maddern H, Maull R (2008) Alternative perspectives on service quality and customer satisfaction: the role of BPM. International Journal of Service Indus-try Management 19 (2): 176-187. https://doi.org/10.1108/ 09564230810869720

Laroche M, Ueltschy L, Abe S, Cleveland M, Yannopoulos P (2004) Service quality perceptions and customer satisfaction: Evaluating the role of culture. Journal of International Marke-ting 12 (3): 58-85. https://doi.org/10.1509/jimk.12.3.58.38100

Latif K, Baloch Q, Rehman S (2016) Role of internal service qu-ality (ISQ) in the linkage between perceived organizational support and organizational performance. City University Research Journal 6 (1): 1-22.

Leufvén M, Vitrakoti R, Bergström Ashish K, Målqvist M (2015) Dimensions of learning organizations questionnaire (DLOQ) in a low-resource health care setting in Nepal. Health Research Policy and Systems 13 (6): 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/1478-4505-13-6

Liu C, Yen L (2010) The effects of service quality, tourism impact, and tourist satisfaction on tourist choice of leisure farming types. African Journal of Business Management 4 (8): 1529-1545.

Locke EA (1976) The nature and causes of job satisfaction. Handbook of industrial and Organizational Psychology, Chicago, Rand McNally.

Loke S, Taiwo A, Salim H, Downe A (2011) Service quality and customer satisfaction in a telecommunication service provi-der. International Conference on Financial Management and Economics. IPEDR 11: 24-29.

Marković S, Raspor S (2010) Measuring perceived service quality using servqual: a case study of the Croatian hotel industry. Management 5 (3): 195-209.

Marsick V, Watkins K (2003) Demonstrating the value of an orga-nization’s learning culture: The dimensions of learning organi-zations questionnaire. Advances in Developing Human Resour-ces 5: 132-151. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422303005002002

Marshall G, Baker J, Finn D (1998) Exploring internal customer service quality. Journal of Business and Industrial marketing 13 (4/5): 381-392. https://doi.org/10.1108/08858629810226681

Naser B, Esmaeil Z, Masood J, Mahmood S (2013) The relations-hip between internal service quality and physical education faculty members’ job satisfaction in dist. 10 of Islamic Azad University, Iran. European Journal of Experimental Biology 3 (2): 379-382.

Noor K, Rajiani I, Sulaiman N (2014) The applicability of in-ternal marketing factors to boost Internal service quality. International Journal of Innovative Science, Engineering & Technology 1 (9): 202-215.

Omid M, Ebrahim A, Bagher G (2014) Factors associated with in-ternal service quality from the perspective of staff in Golestan’ sports and youth offices. European Journal of Experimental Biology 4 (2): 347-350.

Osahon O, Kingsley O (2016) Statistical approach to the link between internal service quality and employee job satis-faction: A case study. American Journal of Applied Mathe-matics and Statistics 4 (6): 178-184.

Palihawadana D, Barnes B (2004) The measurement and ma-nagement of service quality in dental healthcare. Health Services Management Research 17 (2): 29-36. https://doi.org/10.1258/0951484042317750

Pandey C, Khare R (2012) Impact of job satisfaction and organi-zational commitment on employment loyalty. International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research 1 (8): 26-41.

Pantouvakis A (2011) Internal service quality and job satisfaction synergies for performance improvement: Some evidence from a B2B environment. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing 19: 11-22. https://doi.org/10.1057/jt.2011.2

Pantouvakis A, Mpogiatzidis P (2013) The impact of inter-nal service quality and learning organization on clinical leaders’ job satisfaction in hospital care services. Leadership in Health Services 26 (1): 34-49. https://doi.org/10.1108/ 17511871311291714

Parasuraman A, Zeithaml V, Berry L (1988) SERVQUAL: a multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing 64 (1): 12-40.

Parasuraman A, Zeithaml VA, Berry LL (1985) A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research. Journal of Marketing 49 (4): 41-50. https://doi.org/10.2307/1251430

Parasuraman A, Zeithaml VA, Berry LL (1988) Servqual: A Multiple-Item Scale For Measuring Consumer Perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing 64 (1): 12-40.

Piriyathanalai W, Muenjohn N (2012) Is there a link? Employee satisfaction and service quality. World Journal of Management 4 (1): 82-92.

Prabhakar A (2016) Analysis of high job satisfaction relationship with employee loyalty in context to workplace environment. International Journal of Applied Research 2 (4): 640-643.

Preko A, Adjetey J (2013) A study on the concept of employee loyalty and engagement on the performance of sales execu-tives of commercial banks in GHANA. International Journal of Business Research and Management (IJBRM) 4 (2): 51-62.

Ramseook-Munhurrun P, Naidoo P, Lukea-Bhiwajee S (2010) Measuring service quality: Perceptions of employees. Global Journal of Business Research 4 (1): 47-58.

Randheer K, AL-Motawa A, Vijay P (2011) Measuring commu-ters’ perception on service quality using SERVQUAL in public transportation. International Journal of Marketing Studies 3 (1): 21-34. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijms.v3n1p21

Sadek D, Zainal N, Taher M, Yahya A (2010) Service quality per-ceptions between cooperative and Islamic Banks of Britain. American Journal of Economics and Business Administration 2 (1): 1-5. https://doi.org/10.3844/ajebasp.2010.1.5

Sandada M, Matibiri B (2016) An investigation into the impact of service quality, frequent flier programs and safety perception on satisfaction and customer loyalty in the airline industry in Southern Africa. South East European Journal of Eco-nomics and Business 11 (1): 41-53. https://doi.org/10.1515/jeb-2016-0006

Sankaran E, Sundaram K, Kirubakaran D (2014) A study on inter-nal customer satisfaction towards maintenance of equipments in industries. International Journal of Advanced Technology in Engineering and Science 20 (5): 352-358.

Singh K (2016) Influence of internal service quality on job per-formance: A case study of Royal Police Department. Proce-dia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 224: 28-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.05.396

Skuncikiene S, Balvociut R, Balciunas S (2009) Exploring charac-teristics of a learning organization as learning environment. Social Research 1 (15): 64-75.

Susanti C (2015) The influence of internal service quality to-ward patient’s behavioral intention in inpatient unit at the type C General Hospitals in East Java, Indonesia. Journal of Nursing and Health Care (JNHC) 3 (1): 171-178. https://doi.org/10.5176/2345-718X_3.1.106

Susanti E, Sule E, Sutisna H (2015) The Impact of Internal and External Service Quality: A Case Study among Lecturers and Students. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6 (5): 77-83. https://doi.org/10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s5p77

Sharif K (2009) Relationship between intra-and interorgani-zational service quality perceptions: an empirical testing of modified service profit chain model within Kuwaiti telecom-munications industry. Services. Marketing Quarterly 30 (3): 249-269. https://doi.org/10.1080/15332960902993502

Sharma A, Mehta V (2004) Service quality perceptions in financial services – a case study of banking services. Journal of Services Research 4 (2): 205-223.

Tsai Y (2014) Learning organizations, internal marketing, and organizational commitment in hospitals. BMC Health Ser-vices Research 14 (152): 2-8. https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6963-14-152

Vassileva B, Balloni A (2014) Service quality measurement: im-plications for healthcare sector in Bulgaria. 11th International Conference on Information Systems and Technology Mana-gement – CONTECSI May, 28 to 30, 2014 – São Paulo, Brazil.

Wang G (2012) The influence of internal service quality on em-ployee job satisfaction at Taiwan-listed international tourist hotels: using organizational culture as the moderator. World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education 10 (3): 174-183.

Yarimoglu E (2014) A review on dimensions of service quality models. Journal of Marketing Management 2 (2): 79-93.

Yee R, Yeung A, Cheng T (2008) The impact of employee satis-faction on quality and profitability in high-contact service industries. Journal of Operations Management 26: 651-668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2008.01.001