Identifying Internal Marketing Components and Determining Its Impact on Employee Commitment with the Mediating Role of Service Quality and the Moderating Role of Employee Cultural Alignment

Abstract

In today's highly competitive airline market, maintaining long-term relationships with customers has become a key factor for business success. Improving and expanding internal marketing as a marketing approach fosters an organizational culture that is the most effective form of creating organizational commitment and is influenced by the quality of service delivery to customers. Accordingly, the main objective of this study was to propose a localized internal marketing model for Baghdad International Airport in Iraq and examine the effect of this variable on employee commitment in this organization. Therefore, the present study is developmental and was conducted using an exploratory-analytical approach. In the qualitative phase, the study employed the Delphi strategy, while in the quantitative phase, it used a survey strategy. The qualitative phase utilized a systematic literature review, and field data in the quantitative phase were collected through questionnaires. The study population in the first phase consisted of aviation industry experts in Iraq, while in the second phase, the population included employees of Baghdad International Airport. Analyzing the opinions of a 16-member expert panel in the qualitative phase led to the identification of five components of internal marketing: soft development, welfare system, comprehensive support, top-down communication, and bottom-up communication. In addition to the validation of this conceptual construct through survey data from a sample of 281 individuals, structural equation modeling demonstrated the significant direct impact of internal marketing on organizational commitment. Furthermore, internal marketing also had a significant effect on organizational commitment through the improvement of service quality. Moreover, the results of hierarchical regression analysis revealed that cultural alignment significantly moderates the effect of service quality on organizational commitment.