The effect of internal service quality on job satisfaction and job performance: the study of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, Myanmar

Abstract

For Myanmar tourism development, the effort of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism totally depends on the performance of their employees. The previous studies applied internal service quality (INTQUAL) to investigate the factors relating to organizational performance with the employees, nevertheless, the concept is relatively new in the Myanmar context, especially for the public sector. Hence, using the five dimensions of INTQUAL namely empathy, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and tangibility, this study examined the effect of internal service quality on job satisfaction and job performance. The quantitative research design was used to investigate the relationships. A total of 240 surveys were collected from the employees at all levels in the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, Myanmar, using a stratified sampling technique. The data were analyzed by using the Partial Least Square structural equation modeling method (PLS-SEM). All the reliability and validity tests of measurement models were confirmed. By using the bootstrapping procedures, the results showed that there are two dimensions which are tangibility and responsiveness which have a strong effect on job satisfaction. The tangibility dimension has the highest effect on job satisfaction. For the analysis of the relationship between five dimensions of INTQUAL and job performance, there are three dimensions namely responsiveness, tangibility, and assurance, which have significant influence on job performance. According to the coefficient values, responsiveness has the highest effect on job performance followed by tangibility and assurance dimensions. However, the results also showed that the employees are not satisfied with the tangibility components.In conclusion, this study confirmed that there is a positive relationship amongst internal service quality, job satisfaction and job performance. Under the public sector of the Myanmar context, the notions of tangibility and responsiveness are very important and highly required to enhance job satisfaction and job performance IMPLICATION OF THESIS: This study contributes to internal service quality literature in the public sector. Moreover, the findings of this study can be used as a guide for human resource management in public organizations specifically, the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, to increase their employees’ satisfaction and performance. However, since this research only examined the effect of internal service quality by using five dimensions of INTQUAL, future research can apply other potential variables than INTQUAL dimensions, such as trust, the potential of career enhancement, or pay to investigate their effects on job satisfaction and job performance. The mix-method study is also suggested to provide an in-depth investigation of the study.