Impact of Internal Marketing on Faculty's Service Quality with Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction: A Study of Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in research on internal marketing in the marketing services literature. This has arisen largely from the suggestion that internal mar keting contributes to services companies’ success through its role in developing customer satisfaction. The birth of Internal Marketing has its roots in the 1980’s, and originated with the purpose to provide continuous and consistently satisfying service quality. The term Internal Marketing has been derived from the word ’internal customers’ which was first used by Berry (1981). Internal Marketing considers employees as internal customers and continuously aims to have them motivated in their jobs to encourage improved performance and better customer satisfaction. This thesis examines the depth of understanding and applicability of Internal Marketing in the higher education sector, which is not a typical conventional service industry. It focuses on the relationship between perceptions of Internal Marketing and Organizational Commitment of employees in the higher education sector. Up until now, while considering Education as a service provider, the marketer’s focus has been limited to the external customers, who in the case are the students. This thesis explores the element of internal marketing which impacts job satis faction and service quality of faculty members, employed in public and private universities in Pakistan. Our sample consists of 398 faculty members. The results provide evidence that all of internal marketing elements (employee motivation, empowerment, & market orientation) have significant effect on job satisfaction. The aspects of empowerment and motivation were found to have significant ef fect on service quality, while market orientation and recognition did not have any significant effect. On the other hand, job satisfaction has a strong effect on ser vice quality, indicating the importance of this relationship. The results of this study will help universities to understand the concept and application of Internal Marketing in academia, and will guide university management in enhancing job satisfaction and service quality, leading to improved employee performance and student satisfaction.