The services marketing literature has developed primarily in response to managerial need. Yet, to date, it has not produced a significant body of theory that can be used to interconnect its major concepts. This article addresses that need by linking the notion of service quality (as modelled in SERVQUAL) with customer decision‐making via an adaptation of the internal market/external market (IM/EM) framework. The framework helps explore why service quality is important to customers.