Abstract:
The buzzwords in South African business today is quality service and customer satisfaction. Service quality is an important determinant of customer satisfaction. It is therefore important to measure customer satisfaction and to solicit internal customers perceptions on service received. This research was primarily undertaken to evaluate the quality of services rendered by administrators to Sasol Technology R&D employees. The research is supported by a detailed study of quality and customer service.
An adapted internal service quality scale (INSERVQUAL) was used to measure service
quality. A thirty item scale was developed, for the empirical study. The instrument was then subjected to a scale purification process through exploratory factor analysis. Both the expectation and perception elements were used in measuring service quality. The five dimensions of service quality namely Accessibility and Tangibility, Assurance, Empathy,
Reliability and Responsiveness were identified as internal service quality dimensions.
Aspects of Accessibility and Tangibility were incorporated as a single dimension in this study.
A six- point Likert scale was used in the questionnaire. The low end of the scale represented a negative response, whilst the high end represented a posit,ive response.
With a response rate of 63% from internal customers, the researcher was able to provide
evidence that service quality dimensions may influence an employee's perception of the
administrators' service quality.
The finding in this study also suggests the need for further research to examine customers' expectations in other related services as well as in different culture contexts. The testing of the modified internal customer model of internal marketing developed and described in this study indicates that Access, Assurance, Empathy, Reliability and Responsiveness dimensions may be a useful approach to enhancing service quality.
