Attitudes and behaviors as predictors of service quality in the telecommunications sector context

Purpose Service quality is considered an organizational performance indicator that largely depends on employees' attitudes and behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effect of employees' citizenship behaviour (OCB) on the relationship between affective commitment (AC) and service quality (SQ). Design/methodology/approach The current study has relied on two questionnaire surveys to gather cross-sectional data from 800 employees and 400 customers of telecommunications companies in Kuwait. Structural equation modeling via AMOS22 was used to build and test the hypothesized model. Findings The results show that OCB significantly and positively affect SQ dimensions except empathy which demonstrates insignificant association. Also, affective commitment was found to be a strong predictor of OCB. More interestingly, the results show that affective commitment does not show any effect on either responsiveness or empathy, while a partial mediation was found between affective commitment and tangibles, reliability, and assurance. Practical implications The findings of the current study provide managers and practitioners with empirically validated model of how SQ can be achieved. The model indicates that managers need to increase the level of citizenship behaviour through leveraging their employees' affective commitment, which in turn can result in a positive perception of SQ. Originality/value This study is considered among the first to investigate the causal effect of both OCB and affective commitment on achieving high SQ. Also, the findings of this study further support the indirect relationship of affective commitment and SQ. Moreover, this study is unique in its attempt to link both affective commitment and OCB to the dimensions of SQ. Finally, this study is considered the first empirical investigation of service quality in the telecommunication sector in Kuwait.