The relationship between internalisation of a quality standard and customer results via employee and social results in the hotel industry

The aim of this paper is to examine the internalisation of a quality standard and its effects on employee, social, and customer results, and the relationships between these three types of results in the hotel industry. The paper first performs a qualitative study. Second, it presents the results of a quantitative analysis using structural equations based on 176 hotels in Spain. Third, it carries out another qualitative analysis to better understand the quantitative results. The results show that the internalisation of a quality standard facilitates employee and social results and then customer results. The study contributes to prior research about the relationships between quality measures and guest/business outcomes, expanding the relationships between quality standards and customer and employee results previously examined in the literature by including social results. Managers should understand the importance of continuous improvement and the fundamental role of employees in the internalisation process of a quality standard to enhance employee, social, and customer results.