engleski

The impact of internal marketing on internal service quality in the hospitality industry.

Abstract: Purpose – One of the utmost goals of any business is to provide desired service/product quality and to achieve customer satisfaction. Satisfied employees lead to satisfied customers. They are likely to assist customers with a more pleasant demeanour and a higher level of customer service. Conversely, low employee satisfaction and overall low employee morale can negatively affect company’s operations greatly, causing dissatisfied customers and hurting profitability. The marketing approach, which is primarily focused on internal customers (employees) to create a working climate of psychological support, mutual trust and respect, improves guests’ satisfaction and brings long-term success. Such approach is called internal marketing (IM). To date, the majority of researchers have been defining internal marketing differently, depending on their specialization. A link between internal marketing activities (internal market orientation – IMO) and internal service quality (ISQ) in the hospitality industry is missing. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to define dimensions of IMO, which enhance ISO, and empirically confirm the positive correlation between them in the hospitality industry. Methodology – To achieve the research objectives, the first part of this study lists a literature review, which defines dimensions of internal market orientation that influence internal service quality. To obtain the information from the employees in the hotel industry, a questionnaire was designed. An adapted SERVQUAL instrument was used to measure the internal service quality while internal market orientation was implemented from the already conducted study in the hospitality industry in Spain (Ruizalba, Bermudez Gonzalez, Rodriguez Molin, Blanca, 2014). The questionnaires were distributed to the hotels’ employees in Dubrovnik in August 2017. A total of 201 valid questionnaires were obtained. Descriptive and correlation analysis were obtained to analyse the data. Findings – The findings imply that there is a positive correlation between internal market orientation and internal service quality in the hotel industry in Dubrovnik. Originality of the research – The study contributes to both academics and practitioners. It defines specific dimensions of internal market orientation that could influence internal service quality. Hotel managers could use such information to enhance internal service quality. Furthermore, the results provide valuable information for the hotel management about the hotel personnel’s attitudes concerning working environment.

internal service quality, internal market orientation, hospitality industry, statistical analysis

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