More than lip service to internal market orientation: a multilevel investigation of the role of internal service quality
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 17 June 2021
Issue publication date: 9 August 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on self-determination theory and the service-profit chain, this study aims to expand the current understanding of the internal processes of internal market orientation (IMO) on an organizational commitment by investigating the interactive effect between job (task) satisfaction and internal service quality in the field of hospitality and tourism.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examines the cross-level effects of internal service quality through a time-lagged field study with multilevel structural equation modeling analysis that involved 667 frontline employees from 40 casino hotels.
Findings
The results reveal the IMO has an indirect effect on affective and normative organizational commitments through the interaction of job (task) satisfaction with internal service quality, such that internal service quality compensates for relatively low levels of job (task) satisfaction. While no indirect effect is found on continuance organizational commitment.
Research limitations/implications
This study extends the service-profit chain by integrating self-determination theory and by investigating IMO’s indirect effects on commitment through the interaction between job (task) satisfaction and internal service quality.
Practical implications
The study provides practical solutions to the employee servicing and employee retention dilemmas faced by casino organizations.
Originality/value
This study advances the service-profit chain literature by proposing and theorizing an internal process of IMO, through the cross-level buffering effect of internal service quality on the relationship between job (task) satisfaction and organizational commitment. This study further presents the theoretical and managerial implications by understanding how employees’ perceptions and interpretations of IMO affect their commitment.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The work was funded by MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences (20YJC630105), Philosophy and Social Science Program of Guangdong Province in China (GD19YGL20), and research committee of University of Macau (Ref. No: MYRG2019-00037-FBA and MYRG2018-00078-FBA).
Citation
Mo, Z., Liu, M.T. and Wong, I.A. (2021), "More than lip service to internal market orientation: a multilevel investigation of the role of internal service quality", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 33 No. 8, pp. 2559-2585. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2020-1133
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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