The relationship between internal marketing and service quality: examining the mediating roles of organisational commitment among frontline employees in Sabah public service / Rozanah Abd Hamid

The purpose of this study is to examine i) the relationship between internal marketing (IM) and service quality (SQ), ii) the relationship between internal marketing and organisational commitment (OC), iii) the relationship between organisational commitment and service quality; and iv) whether organisational commitment mediates the relationship between internal marketing and service among frontline employees in Sabah Public service. This study is unique because of its contribution to the literature, which deliberates on the relationship between IM and SQ that is still limited, especially in the Public Service, particularly in Sabah. The target population was frontline employees currently working at Sabah Public Service. A self-administered questionnaire was used for collecting data from various departments of government offices in Sabah, between April and July 2017. A total of 183 valid questionnaires were used for further analysis. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the hypothesised model, in which four hypothesised relationships were proposed. The findings of this study reveal that all hypotheses were significant; IM has a significantly positive relationship with OC and SQ. Meanwhile, OC proved to be a mediator in the relationship between IM and SQ. The finding of this study provides empirical evidence on the relationship between IM and OC towards SQ. Hence, helping the government to improve the existing policy towards more effective and efficient services of frontline employees in Sabah public service.