Unveiling the role of job involvement as a mediator in the linkage between academics’ job satisfaction and service quality

Al-refaei, Abd Al-Aziz et al. Article Unveiling the role of job involvement as a mediator in the linkage between academics’ job satisfaction and service quality Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Al-refaei, Abd Al-Aziz et al. (2024) : Unveiling the role of job involvement as a mediator in the linkage between academics’ job satisfaction and service quality, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 1-20, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2386463 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/326468 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cogent Business & Management ISSN: 2331-1975 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/oabm20 Unveiling the role of job involvement as a mediator in the linkage between academics’ job satisfaction and service quality Abd Al-Aziz Al-refaei, Hairuddin Bin Mohd Ali, Ali Ateeq, Abdulhadi Ibrahim, Siddig Ibrahim, Mohammed Alzoraiki, Marwan Milhem & Baligh Beshr To cite this article: Abd Al-Aziz Al-refaei, Hairuddin Bin Mohd Ali, Ali Ateeq, Abdulhadi Ibrahim, Siddig Ibrahim, Mohammed Alzoraiki, Marwan Milhem & Baligh Beshr (2024) Unveiling the role of job involvement as a mediator in the linkage between academics’ job satisfaction and service quality, Cogent Business & Management, 11:1, 2386463, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2386463 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2386463 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group View supplementary material Published online: 10 Aug 2024. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 1643 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 13 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 ManageMent | ReseaRch aRticle Cogent Business & ManageMent 2024, VoL. 11, no. 1, 2386463 Unveiling the role of job involvement as a mediator in the linkage between academics’ job satisfaction and service quality abd al-aziz al-refaeia,b , hairuddin Bin Mohd alic, ali ateeqd, abdulhadi ibrahime, siddig ibrahimf, Mohammed alzoraikid, Marwan Milhemd and Baligh Beshrd aResearch Management Centre, international islamic university Malaysia (iiuM), Jalan gombak, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; bLincoln university College, Petaling Jaya, selangor D. e, Malaysia; cinternational islamic university Malaysia (iiuM), Jalan gombak, Malaysia; dCollege of administrative and Financial science, gulf university, sanad, Bahrain; eCollege of Business administration, a’sharqiyah university, ibra, sultanate of oman; farab open university, a’ali, Bahrain ABSTRACT the perceptions of employees about their work and organization are influenced by a variety of attitudes. as a result, the impact of employee attitudes like job involvement (Ji) and job satisfaction (Js) on organizational performance (service quality) is still unknown, and it is also uncertain how job involvement will mediate this relationship. therefore, the goal of this work is to incorporate a mediating model to enhance service Quality (sQ) through Ji and Js and explore how that model can improve and sustain sQ in institutions of higher learning in poor nations. this work utilized a conceptual integration between service providers and how well the service is received by customers. it applied dual-perspective and the cross-sectional, ex-post facto survey method by using two sets of questionnaires, and a two-sample study design was used to obtain data from the respondents. For this study, the sample size consisted of the lecturers (296 participants) and their students (1480 participants). seM was utilized to examine the data that had been gathered. the data analysis revealed that Js had a sizable influence on Ji and sQ (i.e. the caliber of the lectures they heard in class that influenced their learning capabilities). Ji had a significant impact on sQ and partly mediated the impact of Js & and sQ. this research adds to knowledge by connecting the Ji, Js of employees and sQ perceived by customers. in order to promote sQ, employees Ji and Js are essential. this study also has practical applications for students, employees, organizations and society. Introduction Quality education is a primary goal priority for public schools in developing nations. given these elements, it has been recognized that the higher education sector remains a major driver of the plans of the government toward creating a service-based economy that is knowledge-based (al-Refaei etal., 2023); Demirel (2022). high levels of human capital skills, rapid technical innovation and high-quality education are also mentioned by trivellas and Dargenidou (2009) and alshuhumi et al. (2023) as important drivers of social and economic advancement in emerging nations, and achieving sustained development (Rosi & Obrecht, 2023), especially in the Middle east and the north africa countries, which universities were increased by 105% between 2000 and 2022 (theWorldBank, 2023). For example, in Yemen, the number of public universities increased from 2 to 18 universities, and 56 new private universities established. this has increased the intensity of competition between universities in providing high-quality educational services, as well as reforming their study programs or adding new ones to meet the growing market needs. along with this, the growth of the young population is estimated to be 65 million by 2030; where education and qualified professionals are crucial © 2024 the author(s). Published by informa uK Limited, trading as taylor & Francis group CONTACT abd al-aziz al-refaei [email protected] Research Management Centre, international islamic university Malaysia (iiuM), Jalan gombak, Kuala Lumpur 53100, Malaysia. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2386463 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 6 november 2023 Revised 9 July 2024 accepted 25 July 2024 KEYWORDS Job involvement; job satisfaction; service quality; higher education; social exchange theory; proportion of mediation SUBJECTS Business, Management and accounting; human Resource Management; Marketing; Management education; higher education 2 a. a.-a. al-ReFaei etal. elements for achieving sustained development and sustainable development goals (sDgs) (ateeq, alaghbari, et al., 2024; Rosi & Obrecht, 2023; stough et al., 2018). therefore, the quality of higher education services can considerably enhance the nation’s development (social and economic) (Butrym, 2020; Vaseer & shahzad, 2016). contrarily, universities that do not offer the required level of sQ will not contribute significantly to the economy and communities of developing countries (al-Refaei et al., 2023). Due to the large number of high-quality service activities offered by employees, as well as the significance of other human factors in service provision in universities and colleges, it has been considered that the higher education sector is labor-driven (Küskü, 2003). this business is seen as being customer-intensive because of the vast volume of students who every day seek similar services and the ever-growing need for advanced education in developing nations; as a result, students are seen as the major clients by universities and colleges (ilie etal., 2021). nevertheless, Parasuraman etal. (1988) emphasized the equal significance of investigating the attitudes and perspectives of employees who provide the service, in addition to those of consumers’ perception of service quality. Whereas customer researches focus on what happens in a service business (front-stage perspective), employee research (back-stage perspective) explains why specific events occur. therefore, investigation of both points of view is worth studying, due to employee’s perspective (Which is expressed through their attitudes and behavior) has crucial impact on customer perspective of service quality (al-Refaei etal., 2024). Furthermore, employee– customer social interactions positively affect service quality (al-Refaei etal., 2024; li etal., 2019). therefore, employees’ social satisfaction in their organization plays a critical role in employee-customer social interactions during service-providing encounters. logically, it is impossible for an employee to interact socially positively with a customer when he is socially dissatisfied in his organization. therefore, including the social satisfaction element of the service providers is vital in the investigation of customer perception of service quality. therefore, our present perception of how customers judge service quality has been greatly impacted by this. however, institutions’ capability to deliver good service is determined by the specific customer-employee interaction levels (al-Refaei etal., 2023; Zeithaml etal., 1990). the demeanor exhibited by employees, and the level of their job satisfaction, job involvement, and their willingness to go above and beyond during a service contact also has a big impact on the nature of the service that is donated to consumers (Malhotra et al., 2013). When employees are disengaged, unsatisfied, uninvolved, uncommitted and disloyal to their employer, it is illogical to give the proper amount of sQ (al-Refaei etal., 2024; Babakus et al., 2003). therefore, scholars should focus more on the Js-Ji relationships and their influence on sQ in universities and colleges. contrarily, researchers contend that client perceptions of the quality of offered services are directly influenced by front-line employee performance (liao & chuang, 2004; liao etal., 2009). additionally, while measuring the customer’s view of service quality, individual employee performance should be taken into account rather than a global or group assessment (gould-Williams & Davies, 2005). as a result, by looking at the relationship between sQ and the Ji, Js and particular personnel who supply the service, it is possible to better understand the quality of the rendered services. according to the literature, numerous research has looked at the Js-sQ relationship. the examination of the effects of a mixture of attitudes, including Ji and Js, on sQ, however, has received less attention. the combined influence of Ji & Js on sQ is thus still unknown. additionally, academics like Mathieu and Zajac (1990) advocated looking into the mediation role of Ji in linking Js and their outcomes (such as sQ). as was previously indicated, academics have not paid enough attention to job involvement, particularly as it mediates this relationship. it is yet unclear how work involvement acts as a mediator. therefore, more research is required to ascertain the mediation role of Ji in Js-sQ relationship. earlier works have evaluated how workers’ attitudes and actions affect their performance (e.g. sQ) using a single framework (trivellas & Dargenidou, 2009; Vaseer & shahzad, 2016; a. Zumrah, 2015). the impact of workers’ behaviors and attitudes, such as Ji and Js, on the actual sQ provided by the workers has also been questioned because workers’ attitudes and workplace behavior are the outcome of a combination of attitudes (Blau & Boal, 1987; Morrow, 1983; Wegge et al., 2007). notably, past research has rarely examined the social component of contentment. Despite the social aspect’s relevance for employee Js, this aspect refers to how employees view support, recognition and interpersonal ties inside their workplace, which influences their overall job satisfaction (Mowday et al., 1982; schnake, 1983). cOgent Business & ManageMent 3 the current study was designed with these deficiencies in mind and incorporates a mediating variable to enhance sQ through Ji, and Js, in colleges and universities in underdeveloped nations. as a result, this study makes a number of original contributions to the body of knowledge about sQ and employee work attitudes. this study takes a ‘dual-perspective approach’ by integrating customer and employee research, focusing on the front-stage perspective of what occurs in a service business and the back-stage perspective of why particular events happen. By gathering information by faculty staff members as well as their students. it linked consumers’ (students’) perspectives on the quality of the services they received with employees’ (service providers’). it reveals the complexity in the nature of service quality, the importance of interactions between providers and recipients of services, and expands our understanding of the nature of service quality. it incorporates a new mediating variable to examine the effects of two significant employee work attitude components (Ji and Js) on service quality, underlining the significance of examining the two employee work attitude components concurrently. it takes into account social job satisfaction and significantly adds to the body of knowledge on employee work attitudes and sQ. it offers guidance to universities on how to effectively manage their workforces in order to improve service quality. Theoretical basis and formulation of hypotheses social exchange theory can be applied to understand the interactions between employees and organizations. this theory suggests that when individuals contribute something of value, such as their services, they anticipate a comparable return in the future. this idea, originating from Blau’s work in 1964 and later supported by gould-Williams and Davies in 2005, underpins the expectation of mutual benefit in such relationships. this idea relates to how workers perceive their involvement, satisfaction and readiness to work harder as types of social reciprocation (al-Muhrami etal., 2021; al-Refaei etal., 2023; eisenberger et al., 1990). in order for the workforce to feel more content toward the organization, it attempts to establish or sustain positive social exchange links with them (eisenberger et al., 1990; a. R. B. Zumrah etal., 2021). as a result, this idea has been used to comprehend the interaction between employees and employers in businesses. employee attitudes toward their company, as reflected in job satisfaction and job involvement, along with their readiness to exceed expectations, are examples of employees reciprocating to their employer. When employees feel their needs are adequately met and develop a strong emotional connection with their workplace, they tend to exhibit higher job satisfaction, job involvement and a deep-rooted loyalty to the organization. this, in turn, leads to them delivering superior services that benefit both the company and its customers, as noted by various researchers, including eisenberger et al. (1990), Yee et al. (2015) and al-Refaei et al. (2021). higher education institutions are well-known for their labor-intensive and extensively customer-centric offerings. the provision of superior services in this industry presents difficulties as a result of two prominent aspects. Firstly, customers’ perceptions of an institution’s service quality (reliability, assurance, responsiveness, empathy) can be influenced by employees’ positive or negative feelings about their jobs and the workplace as a whole (job satisfaction and job involvement). secondly, the willingness of employees to go beyond their regular duties (extra-role work behavior) during customer interactions plays a crucial role in achieving the organization’s objectives (schneider et al., 1980). the creation of high-service quality and the success of organizational goals heavily rely on the presence of good attitudes and the proactive behavior of front-line personnel during service encounters. Without these essential factors, organizations may confront challenges in order to provide their clients with adequate service and reach their objectives. Job satisfaction and service quality Job satisfaction has become crucial, especially for service-oriented firms, due to the ability of labor-intensive enterprises, like universities and colleges, to surmount obstacles and boost their capacity to offer their clients services of superior quality. this is true because only content or happy workers can deliver the high-quality services that are essential to any university. On the other hand, corporations 4 a. a.-a. al-ReFaei etal. struggle to deliver high-quality service when employees are dissatisfied. according to earlier studies, it is impossible for employees to provide the appropriate quality of service when they are unhappy or dissatisfied with their employment (al-Refaei etal., 2019; Zeithaml etal., 1996). since customers’ perceptions of sQ are impacted by staff’s perceptions of their workplace, the current study argues that it is not possible to meet customers’ demands when the people who provide those services are not happy with their workplace. scholars have demonstrated that staff work satisfaction substantially impacts sQ. For instance, the study by Malhotra and Mukherjee (2004) discovered that the Js of call center personnel has a considerable impact on service delivery. through the use of social mechanisms, gazzoli et al. (2013) show that employee satisfaction mediate the influence of empowerment on the perception of consumers as relates to sQ. according to ukil (2016), happy workers deliver substantially better customer service. in Finanda & lutfi (2018), it was discovered that Js has a favorable influence on sQ, customer satisfaction and profitability in the banking industry. a sample of managers and their employees from companies in china was focused on the study by shen and tang (2018) using the social exchange theory (set) and it was discovered that Js has a favorable rule on sQ. and Js significantly affects sQ in health sector (Khairunnisa & nadjib, 2019). academic and administrative staff Js has a substantial influence on sQ in greece with regard to the higher education sector (trivellas & santouridis, 2016). a similar study highlighted the critical role that Js plays in sQ and discovered that Js significantly affects sQ in Pakistani universities (Vaseer & shahzad, 2016), in another study by Osman etal. (2017), the mediating role of faculty staff satisfaction on sQ and service climate relationship was identified. according to a recent systematic study of service quality in universities and colleges conducted by camilleri (2021), sQ was observed to be significantly impacted by employee behaviors and attitudes. however, ‘several earlier research did not discover a substantial influence of Js on sQ; for instance, in the health sector, ariani (2015) did not discover any impact of Js on sQ. Yee etal. (2015) also found that customer service is unaffected by Js.’ this implies that additional research is necessary to validate the link of Js to sQ. hence, this study proposes as follows: h1. Js has a positive and significant impact on sQ in higher education. Job involvement as a mediating factor two important connected constructs, Ji and Js, have been found to have a considerable effect on sQ (camilleri, 2021; Osman et al., 2017; shen & tang, 2018; ukil, 2016). however, studies have repeatedly demonstrated that these two constructs are positively connected to one another and that enhancing one can enhance the other factors (Brooke etal., 1988; Ćulibrk etal., 2018; Knoop, 1995; Mathieu & Farr, 1991). For instance, Zopiatis et al. (2014) discovered that Ji is related to Js and that increase in Ji also improves Js. a recent study revealed that Js has a strong effect on sQ when Ji is high (al-Refaei et al., 2023). Organizations must understand their Ji levels since they are associated with other important job attitudes like Js, Oc, and decreased turnover intents (Blau & Boal, 1987; V. chang et al., 2022; Demir, 2020). Organizations may find it easier to increase employee satisfaction, commitment and performance (service quality) among those with greater levels of Ji, according to l.-c. chang et al. (2010). While enhancing Ji should be a top aim of an organization, this work-related characteristic has been found to have an important influence on the effectiveness of an organization. although Js directly affects sQ, these effects may be stronger when workers perceive their work as valuable (Blachut, 2012). Researchers frequently suggest that investigations of Js should take into account other factors like Ji (Ćulibrk etal., 2018; Demir, 2020). Future research should, according to these authors, look into the mediating role that Ji plays in outcomes. For instance, Blachut (2012) discovered that when job participation was low, Js had little effect on the intention to stay, while the inverse was true. another study discovered that Js & Ji affect employees’ intentions to leave the company, and when they feel their degree of Ji is low, they may actually choose to do so (sugiharjo et al., 2021). employees who are invested in their work (have a high degree of Ji) have a more positive effect on the link between Js and sQ than those who aren’t, as mentioned by lee and chen (2013). in other words, among highly engaged cOgent Business & ManageMent 5 individuals in their work and organization, job satisfaction significantly influences the quality of the rendered services. these studies, however, add to the evidence supporting (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990) results and emphasize the importance of Ji in shaping staff behaviors, and its impact on the interaction between Js, both of which have an impact on sQ. this research proposes the following hypotheses h2. there is a positive relationship between Js and Ji in higher education. h3. there is a positive relationship between Ji and sQ in higher education. h4. Ji plays a mediating role in Js and sQ relationship in higher education. the present study is grounded on a conceptual framework that encompasses the Js as an independent variable, sQ as the dependent variable and Ji as the mediating variable (see Figure 1). Methodology this research integrates the perspectives of customers on service quality and service providers conceptually. a cross-sectional survey was used in this study employing a two-sample research approach. For the purpose of gathering information from the targeted respondents, two sets of questionnaires were used (one set was used to gather information about the Js and Ji of the academic staff at aden university, and the second set was used to gather information about sQ from the perception of the students. the first component of the questionnaire asks about demographic details including gender, age, education, employment history and so on. each questionnaire has two or more sections. the target respondents’ opinions on the components under examination (i.e. work satisfaction, involvement in the job and customer-perceived service quality) were questioned in the second and third portions of the questionnaire. to ensure simple comparability, the consumer questionnaire and the academic staff questionnaire were both encoded with the same code before being sent. customers frequently rate the quality of service primarily on how well an individual employee performed during a service encounter (al-Refaei et al., 2019; gazzoli et al., 2013; gould-Williams & Davies, 2005) rather than an overall or group rating. For this reason, this technique was adopted in this work. Five students were chosen at random to provide their opinions on how well the chosen academic staff provided services. Five students were chosen for each sample (in this case, academic staff), which is a suitable quantity given that it is significantly greater than the typical number of customers chosen in prior studies (gazzoli et al., 2013; Kolar et al., 2018; a. Zumrah, 2015). Sample size and sampling method the study includes 1776 participants from 2 sub-samples. the first set of samples was 296 lecturers, while the second set was 1480 students. Researchers obtained samples from each stratum as part of the investigation using the random stratified sampling technique. implementing this method guarantees that Figure 1. Conceptual framework of the study. 6 a. a.-a. al-ReFaei etal. researchers acquire a sample from every stratum (saunders et al., 2019). the nine faculties and centers of aden university are referred to as the strata in this study. Measures Job satisfaction (JS) schnake (1983) conceptualized Js in terms of 3 dimensions: extrinsic, intrinsic and social. in this study, 11 questions derived from schnake (1983) were used to gauge job satisfaction on sQ. this measurement was chosen because it accounts for social, intrinsic and extrinsic facets of job satisfaction. three social satisfaction questions, four extrinsic satisfaction questions and four questions to gauge intrinsic satisfaction were all employed. ‘a 5-point likert scale ranging’ as ‘1 = highly unsatisfied’ to ‘5 = strongly satisfied’ was used to rate the respond to the survey questions. the values alpha were α = 0.84, 0.87 and 0.85, respectively. Job involvement (JI) seven items from the Ji scale originally established by lodahl and Kejner (1965) were modified to measure job involvement. illustrative items were ‘i value my job far more than just the money’, ‘i find that the initial hours of my workday go by quickly since i truly love carrying out the tasks that i have to do each day’ and ‘My job definitely piques my attention’. ‘a 5-point likert scale ranging’ as ‘1 = strongly disagree’ to ‘5 = strongly agree’ was used to rate the response to the survey questions. the test resulted in a satisfactory value of α = 0.87). Service quality (SQ) Four criteria were used in this study to evaluate sQ: responsiveness, assurance, reliability and empathy. eighteen items from Parasuraman et al. (1988) seRVQual scale were used for this purpose. these four dimensions were chosen because it was discovered that the tangibles dimension did not affect how customers perceived sQ (Malhotra & Mukherjee, 2004). Previous studies’ ‘alpha values’ for each dimension ranged from 0.87 to 0.89 (Parasuraman et al., 1988). the measurement scale for each variable in this investigation is displayed in appendix. table 1 shows the measurement scale of all variables and items in this study and the resources. Data collection procedures Before distributing the questionnaire to the respondents, the researcher obtained ethical approval from aden university (Refe 102/3/2/1) to distribute the questionnaire to the academic staff and their students, with informed consent from all participants ensuring voluntary participation and data confidentiality. the questionnaire was given to the instructors in the classrooms (physically) after the lectures. Five of the customers (students) were asked to rate the level of service each individual of academic staff provided. each survey of (student and staff) was coded throughout the process to make it simple to compare the customers’ evaluations of the caliber of service offered by various employees. Only 306 of the 460 surveys that were distributed to faculty members (a response rate of 66.5%). For this study, only 296 of surveys were used. a total of 2300 questionnaires were given out to the customers (students), with a subsequent return of 1530 completed questionnaires, resulting in a response rate of 66.5%. Out of them, a mere 1480 were utilized for purpose analysis. the necessary measures were implemented subsequent to the data-gathering process in order to ensure the precision and comprehensiveness of the data. each survey’s response was examined to weed out any missing information. it was made sure that the student’s opinions of the level of each employee’s service matched their perceptions of each employee’s Js and Ji. ‘using the compute variable tool in sPss’, five customers’ (students) opinions on each component of an employee’s quality of service were gathered, ‘yielding an average of five responses’ for each component of service offered by each employee. this method made it possible to comprehend how staff members’ attitudes and behaviors (Js and Ji) affect customers’ (students) assessments of sQ and verify that personal bias did not affect the outcomes. this thorough methodology made sure the resulting dataset fairly represented the views of both cOgent Business & ManageMent 7 students and staff and gave insightful information about the organization’s capacity to deliver services to their customers with the required standard. Data analysis Data analysis was done in two phases in this work. sPss 26.0 was used in the initial stage of the descriptive statistics and analysis. aMOs v.26 was used for ‘structural equation modeling (seM)’ in the second stage. cFa) was performed at the beginning of this step to make sure the scales were appropriate for the task at hand. the following step involved seM-based direct hypothesis testing, after which the route coefficient of indirect links was calculated using bootstrapping. to ascertain the mediating that links the variables. Results Respondents’ demographic profile Descriptive statistics were employed to depict the demographic information of the study respondents. Lecturers’ profile table 1 presents the demographic characteristics of the 296 individuals who participated in the study; male employees account for 72.5% of the workforce while female employees account for 27.5%. the participants’ ages ranged from under 40 (40.9%) to over 40 (59.1%). a Ph.D. is held by 50.3% of participants, followed by a Master’s degree by 19.9% and a Bachelor’s degree by 27.7%. With regards to the duration of work, it is observed that 6.5% of the university’s employees have maintained their affiliation with the institution for a period of ten years or longer, compared to 39.5% who have been there for ten Table 1. Measurement scales. Variable Dimension item Code Job Satisfaction (JS) schnake social the friendliness of the people you work with ss1 the way you are treated by the people you work with ss2 the respect you receive from the people you work with ss3 extrinsic the chances you have to accomplish something worthwhile es4 the amount of pay you get es5 the fringe benefits you receive es6 the chance of doing something that makes you feel good about yourself es7 intrinsic the chances you have to take part in making decisions is8 the amount of job security you have is9 the opportunity to develop your skills and abilities is10 the amount of freedom you have in your job is11 Job Involvement (JI) Lodahl and Kejner My job means a lot more to me than just money Ji1 1am really interested in my work. Ji2 i would probably keep working even if i didn’t need the money Ji3 the most important things that happen to me involve my work Ji4 For me, the first few hours at work really fly by Ji5 i actually enjoy performing the daily activities that make up My job Ji6 i look forward to coming to work each day Ji7 Service Quality (SQ) Parasuraman, et al. When lecturers promise to do something by a certain time, they do so. R1 Reliability When i have a problem, the lecturer seems sympathetic and reassuring. R2 the lecturer is dependable. R3. the lecturers provided the service at the timeline they promised to do so. R4 the lecturers keep accurate records of their work. R5 the lecturer tells which series will be performed Re1 Responsiveness i resave prompt series from the lecturer Re2 the lecturer is always willing to help others Re3 the lecturers respond to another request prompt even if they are too busy Re4 assurance i can trust the lecturer as1 i feel safe in my transactions with the lecturer as2 the lecturer is polite as3 i get adequate support from the lecturer to do my job as4 empathy the lecturer gives me individual attention em1 the lecturer gives me personal attention em2 the lecturer knows my needs em3 the lecturer has my best interests at heart em4 the lecturer has operating hours convenient to all his/her students em5 14 a. a.-a. al-ReFaei etal. influence sQ, were not considered in this work, a more in-depth analysis of the demographic profiles of lecturers and their potential impact on Js, Ji and sQ would provide a more comprehensive understanding of the study’s outcomes. therefore, these factors can mediate the Js-sQ link in future research. Conclusion this study examined the impact of job satisfaction (Js) and job involvement (Ji) on service quality (sQ) within the higher education sector. the findings revealed a significant and positive correlation between Js, Ji and sQ. the results indicate that organizations prioritizing employee welfare experience improvements in both Js and Ji, which in turn enhances the quality of services provided. conversely, organizations that neglect employee welfare may face challenges in achieving customer satisfaction, because unsatisfied employees will produce unsatisfied customers, as their staff may be less inclined to deliver the level of service desired by consumers. Acknowledgment the authors are grateful to the journal’s anonymous referees for their extremely useful suggestions to improve the quality of the article. Author contributions abd al-aziz al-refaei: Writing original draft and data collection. hairuddin Mohd ali: Final review of the version to be published and supervision. ali ateeq: Data analysis (cFa, seM). abdulhadi ibrahim: Writing - review and editing and investigation. siddig ibrahim: Final review of the version to be published. Mohammed alzoraiki: Methodology, validation. Marwan Milhem: Final review of the version. Baligh Beshr: Descriptive data analysis and interpretation of the data. Disclosure statement no potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). Funding the author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and or publication of this article. About the authors Abd Al-Aziz Al-refaei holds a Ph.D. in human resource management from the islamic science university of Malaysia (usiM). he did a post-doctoral fellowship at the Research Management centre, international islamic university Malaysia (iiuM). currently, Dr. al-refaei is assistant Professor at the Faculty of Business and accounting, lincoln university college, Malaysia. his research interests focus on hRM, hRD, leadership, service quality, and organizational behavior. Hairuddin Bin Mohd Ali is a Professor of educational Management and leadership at the international islamic university Malaysia (iiuM). he was the head of the institute of education (insteD), and head of Department, social Foundations and educational leadership (iiuM). his research interests focus on educational Management, educational leadership, strategic leadership, and educational Planning. Dr. Ali Ateeq, an assistant Professor at gulf university, leads community research and engagement in the college of administrative and Financial sciences. Renowned for his high-impact publications, Dr. ateeq excels in research and data analysis. he contributes as an editor and reviewer in prestigious journals and is actively involved with international organizations like ieee and the american heart association, showcasing his global influence and commitment to academic excellence. My research area of interest is focused on leadership styles, Business ethics. ai, employee engagement, hRM, OB, hR Planning, training and Development, employees performance, hRis, emotional intelligence, and employees performance, sustainability. business information system. Abdulhadi Ibrahim is an assistant Professor of accounting and the coach of the team entrepreneurship program at the college of Business administration, a’sharqiyah university. With extensive experience in academia, he has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses, specializing in Financial accounting, auditing and accountability, Managerial accounting, and entrepreneurship. his research interests encompass Financial accounting and Reporting, corporate governance, and entrepreneurship. cOgent Business & ManageMent 15 Dr. Siddig Ibrahim is an accomplished academic with a wealth of experience in the field of marketing. Dr. ibrahim pursued a Ph.D. in strategic Marketing from universiti sains Malaysia. since september 2019, he has served as an associate Professor of Marketing at arab Open university-Bahrain. Dr. ibrahim’s journey in academia began at the college of Business studies, sudan university of science and technology, where he dedicated 18 years of his career. During this time, he held the esteemed position of Dean of the college of Business studies. Over the course of his impressive 24-year career, Dr. siddig Balal ibrahim’s remarkable journey stands as a testament to his commitment to education, research, and service. Dr. Mohammed Alzoraiki is a passionate researcher with expertise in various domains, including human Resource Management, leadership, Organizational Performance, educational leadership, Organizational Management, Business Management, Research Methodology, and Quantitative Data analysis. his interdisciplinary research interests allow him to contribute valuable insights to the field of hRM. in addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. alzoraiki has taken on significant leadership roles. he has served as the chair of the college Research committee at gulf university, fostering a vibrant research culture and promoting scholarly excellence. Furthermore, he has been the Managing editor of the international Journal of intellectual human Resource Management (iJihRM), overseeing the editorial process and ensuring the dissemination of high-quality research in the field. through his teaching, research, and administrative contributions, Dr. alzoraiki continues to make a significant impact on the development of human resource management practices and the advancement of knowledge in his areas of expertise. Dr. Marwan Milhem has a practical and teaching experience over 17 years in the field of human Resource Management, hR Planning & Recruitment Processes, total Quality Management, compensation & Benefits, hR Policy and Procedure, Performance Management, Job analysis, training and Development, Organizational Behavior, strategic hRM, Principles of Business Management, Planning and Monitoring teamwork, Diversity at workplace, and hR guiding & counselling. currently Dr. Marwan working as acting Dean in the college of administrative and Financial sciences at gulf university -Bahrain. Besides that.Dr Marwan have a Doctor of Philosophy in Business Management in specialization area human Resource Management from unisZa university, Malaysia, and a master degree in human Resources Management from uuM university, Malaysia. My research area of interest is focused on leadership styles, employee engagement, hRM, OB, hR Planning, training and Development, employees performance, hRis, emotional intelligence, and employees performance. Dr. Baligh Beshr, associate Professor. PhD in human Resource Management – abdelmalek saadi university – Morocco 2014. Master’s degree from abdelmalek al-saadi university, Kingdom of Morocco, specialization: Management and Development, specialization: human Resources Management 2008. Bachelor’s degree from Dhamar university, college of administrative sciences, majoring in Business administration and Marketing, Dhamar university, Yemen, 2002. British Fellowship certificate from the higher education academy in Britain, 10-8-2018. acertified international trainer in human development by the international Federation of human Resources and the international Business academy in Kingstone Britain and the international academy for training in uK. ORCID abd al-aziz al-refaei http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9786-9276 Data availability statement Data supporting this research article are available upon request from the corresponding author, abd al-aziz al-refaei at [email protected], subject to approval and in compliance with ethical considerations. References alharahsheh, h. h., & Pius, a. (2021). exploration of employability skills in business management studies within higher education levels: systematic literature review. Research Anthology on Business and Technical Education in the Information Era, 1147–1164. ali, a. a. a., alzoraiki, M., al-shaibah, M., & almaamari, Q. (2022). enhancing contextual performance through islamic work ethics with mediating role of normative commitment. Mathematical Statistician and Engineering Applications, 71(4), 8668–8683. al-Muhrami, M. a. s., alawi, n. a., alzubi, M., & al-Refaei, a. a.-a. 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Appendix.The Questionnaire Used to Collect the Data for This Study A1. Demographic information Please tick the answer appropriate to you or fill in the blanks gander age Your qualification: Your experience in this university □ Male □ 20-29 □ undergraduate □ < 10 Years □ Female □ 30-39 □ Master □ > 10 years □ 40-49 □ PhD □ above 50 A2 A2.1. Job satisfaction Please circle the level of agreement on each of the statements below with regard to your attitudes and behavior toward your university. 1= very dissatisfaction 2 = Dissatisfaction 3= natural 4 = satisfaction 5= very satisfaction no Variable 1 2 3 4 5 1the fringe benefits you receive 2the friendliness of the people you work with 3the respect you receive from the people you work with 4the chances you have to accomplish something worthwhile 5the amount of pay you get 6the chances you have to do something that makes you feel good about yourself as a person 7the way you are treated by the people you work with 8the chances you have to take part in making decisions 9the amount of job security you have 10 the opportunity to develop your skills and abilities 11 the amount of freedom you have on your job A2.2. Job involvement Please circle the level of agreement on each of the statements below about job involvement 1 = strongly disagree 2= Disagree 3= neutral 4= agree 5= strongly agree no Variable 1 2 3 4 5 1My job means a lot more to me than just money 2the major satisfaction in my life comes from my job. 31am really interested in my work. 4i would probably keep working even if i didn’t need the money 5the most important things that happen to me involve my work. 6i will stay overtime to finish a job, even if i’m not paid for it 7For me, the first few hours at work really fly by 8How much do you actually enjoy performing the daily activities that make up your job? 9How much do you look forward to coming to work each day 20 a. a.-a. al-ReFaei etal. A2.3. Please circle the level of agreement on each of the statements below with regard to service quality that you received from the lecturer 1 = strongly disagree 2= Disagree 3= neutral 4= agree 5= strongly agree no Variable 1 2 3 4 5 1When the lecturer promises to do something by a certain time. He/she does so 2When i have problem, the lecturer is sympathetic and reassuring 3the lecturer is dependable 4the lecturer provides series at the time he/she promised to do so 5the lecturer keeps their work accurately 6the lecturer tells exactly which series will be preformed 7i resave prompt series from the lecturer 8the lecturer is always willing to help others 9the lecturer responds to another request prompt even if he/she is too busy 10 i can trust the lecturer 11 i feel safe in my transactions with the lecturer 12 the lecturer is polite 13 i get adequate support from the lecturer to do my job 14 the lecturer gives me individual attention 15 the lecturer gives me personal attention 16 the lecturer knows my needs 17 the lecturer has my best interests at heart 18 the lecturer has operating hours convenient to all their customers thank you for your cooperation.