Purpose –
This paper aims to explore the mediating role of effective employee involvement in the links between management commitment to service quality, employees' job satisfaction, and customer perceptions of service performance.

Design / methodology / approach –
Based on a review of the literature on service management, the authors identified the role of effective employee involvement in the relationships between management commitment to service quality and employees' job satisfaction and between management commitment to service quality and customer perceptions of service performance. Using a random sampling method, the authors obtained 143 matched frontline employee-customer dyads in the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

Findings –
The results of the structural equations analysis show that effective employee involvement fully mediates the positive effects of management commitment to service quality on employees' job satisfaction and customer perceptions of service performance.

Practical implications –
This study confirms that management commitment to service quality alone does not produce positive organizational outcomes, unless linked with effective employee involvement.

Originality/value –
The paper contributes to the literature on service management by identifying the mediating role of effective employee involvement in the relationships between management commitment to service quality and organizational outcomes.