Although it has been widely accepted that internal customer service quality leads to internal customer satisfaction and in turn external customes satisfaction, relatively little research has focused on the dimensions of internal customer service quality and their differing impacts on internal customer satisfaction. This empirical study identifies six key internal service quality dimensions as perceived by the purchasing department's internal customer: customer intimacy, team-based continuous, improvement, communication, reliability/competence, requisition process and tangibles. In addition, this study reveals the following factors. First, customer intimacy is the most influential dimension to achieve both high internal customer service quality and satisfaction. Second, team-based continuous improvement and requisition process are the second and third most important dimensions of service quality but not significantly associated with internal customes satifaction. Third, conversely, communication is the second most influential dimension for internal customers satisfaction but not with internal customer service quality. Finally, there is a significantly positive association between internal customer service quality and satisfaction. Managerial implications and recommendations are also presented

Volume 21

Numbers 1-2