Internal service quality as a driver of employee satisfaction, commitment and performance – exploring the focal role of employee well-being

Abstract

Purpose – This paper uses ‘positive organizational behaviour’ and ‘transformative service research’ paradigms to introduce ‘employee well-being’ as a focal construct in the process by which internal service quality drives employee satisfaction, commitment and performance. Design/methodology/approach – A field-survey using a structured questionnaire is employed to test all the hypotheses with 250 employees and their 25 supervisors in a manufacturing unit in Guangdong province of the People’s Republic of China. Findings – All the eight hypotheses are supported. Internal service quality has a positive effect on employee satisfaction, commitment and employee well-being, which in turn positively influence employee performance. Employee well-being also positively moderates (strengthens) the effects of employee satisfaction and commitment on employee performance. Research limitations/implications – This paper uses data from a single factory in China and focuses on a few key constructs, which may restrict the generalizability of its findings. Moreover, no significant differences were found among the supervisor-workers units. Practical implications – Managers in non-service industries should focus on improving internal service quality and employee well-being in their organizations because both these constructs have significant direct and indirect effects on employee performance. Originality/value – This paper extends past research on internal service quality by showing that it affects employee performance via satisfaction and commitment, and that employee well-being moderates the effects of employee satisfaction and commitment on performance.