Enhancing Customer Satisfaction Through Sustainable Service Quality (SSQ) in Accredited Calibration and Testing Labs Based on ISO/IEC 17025

This paper examines the influence of sustainable service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction within ISO/IEC 17025-accredited calibration laboratories in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. The study addresses the ongoing challenge of ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction while simultaneously enhancing competitive advantage through the provision of sustainable calibration services. Anchored in the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) theoretical framework, the research employs a quantitative methodology, utilizing SmartPLS 4 to assess the proposed measurement model. Data were collected from 494 valid respondents representing users of ISO/IEC 17025-accredited calibration and testing laboratories in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain through a structured questionnaire and purposive sampling approach. The measurement and structural models were assessed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4. The measurement model satisfied the required reliability and convergent validity criteria. The structural model results revealed that, Revenue, E-Waste Reduction, Resolving Customer Complaint and Work Transparency, and Service Innovation had significant direct relationships with both Sustainable Service Quality and Customer Optimum Satisfaction. In contrast, Feedback Assessment and Social CRM, did not demonstrate significant direct relationships with either outcome, while Environmental Concern and Service Digitalization Management had significant direct relationships only with Customer Optimum Satisfaction. The hypothesised positive relationships between Cost Saving and both outcomes were not supported because the estimated coefficients were negative. Furthermore, the mediation analysis confirmed that Sustainable Service Quality significantly mediated the relationships of, E-Waste Reduction, Resolving Customer Complaint and Work Transparency, and Service Innovation with Customer Optimum Satisfaction. However, its mediating effects were not significant for Environmental Concern, Feedback Assessment and Social CRM, Revenue, and Service Digitalization Management. The hypothesised positive indirect relationship involving Cost Saving was also not supported because its coefficient was negative. These findings provide empirical and practical insights for strengthening sustainable service quality and customer satisfaction in ISO/IEC 17025-accredited laboratory contexts.