Service Quality and Internal Customer Satisfaction Amidst the Pandemic

The presence of the COVID-19 pandemic has substantially impacted the delivery of service quality in Higher Education Institutions. In this case, Human Resource Management (HRM) is not excluded from the pandemic's effect. Thus, such an effort to elicit quality services should be driven instantly due to substantial effects on organisational performance. Therefore, the service quality of HRM should be continuously monitored and upgraded in order to achieve a desired organisational goal. This study aimed to measure the satisfaction of HRM customers towards HRM service quality at the respective public university in Malaysia. The study instrument (questionnaire) was developed based on the modified SERVQUAL model. A pilot study was carried out to measure the instrument's reliability, and Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient indicated high reliability of 0.957. Later, the study was conducted via an online questionnaire to approximately 17,000 respondents based on the purposive sampling technique, and 802 questionnaires were returned. The correlation and regression analysis was utilised to measure the relationship between the service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction. The study findings indicate that all the dimensions, namely Responsiveness, Assurance, Access, Empathy, and Reliability, have a significant relationship with customer satisfaction except for Tangible. In addition, this study provides practical implications in managerial decisions to diagnose room for improvement and endeavours future actions .