Introduction: The purpose of this study to investigate internal service quality (as perceived by employees) and external (customer) perceptions of quality in the context of service profit chain (SPC).Objective: The objective of the study is to evaluate the impact of internal service quality on students’ perceptions of quality and to test the significance of a direct link between internal and external service quality.Methods: We measured the perceived service quality using a SERVPERF instrument and the multilevel modeling approach with HLM 7.01.Results: The empirical findings support a link between perceptions of internal and external service quality. We show that when employees (faculty) perceive university services as being of high quality, it has a positive spill-over effect on students’ overallperceptions of the quality of university services. Perceptions of internal service quality are also positively related to students’ perceptions of reliability, responsiveness and quality assurance.Conclusions: The perceptions of internal service quality by faculty members are positively related to students’ perceptions of quality. Comparing the levels of internal and external service quality will help managers define priorities for allocating resources to improve quality.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to assess the technical (output) and functional (process) quality of mobile services, as well as the role of corporate image as a mediator between technical/functional quality perceptions and overall quality assessment of mobile services. Grönroos’s service quality model is used as the conceptual base of the study. Technical quality was operationalized through two sub-dimensions: baseline network quality and augmented technical quality. The SERVPERF framework was used in the operationalization of the functional quality. A quantitative survey was conducted with (n = 414) customers of the telecommunication operator in B&H. The results suggest that corporate image mediates the effects of (1) two functional quality dimensions (tangibles and assurance) and (2) both technical quality dimensions on the overall service quality assessment. The core technical quality dimension (network) is also directly related to overall service quality perception. A discussion of the results and their implications for theory and practice is then presented.

This study attempts to advance knowledge in the area of controversial advertising by examining the antecedents and consequences of controversial advert perceptions in the context of social media, and particularly social networking sites (SNS). Specifically, we explore how ethical judgement and religious commitment shape controversial advert perceptions leading to attitudes towards the advert, brand attitudes and purchase intentions. Our results indicate that when a SNS advert is judged to be ethically acceptable, the level of perceived advert controversy is lower. However, the impact of ethical judgement on controversial advert perceptions becomes significant and positive when intrapersonal commitment and interpersonal religious commitment are introduced as moderators. This result implies that the level of religious commitment changes the ethical judgement–controversial advert perceptions relationship. The results also highlight that controversial advert perceptions negatively influence attitude towards the advert. The study contributes to the limited knowledge on controversial advertising on SNS, yielding significant and relevant implications for academics and advertisers alike, in their effort to improve advertising effectiveness without offending or alienating target audiences.