<![CDATA[The increasing competition among private universities requires higher education institutions to improve service quality by strengthening employee-oriented management practices. In this context, employee attitudes and behaviors, particularly customer orientation toward students, become important factors in creating sustainable educational services. This study aims to examine the effect of internal marketing on customer orientation with job satisfaction as a mediating variable among lecturers and education staff at Universitas Dharma Andalas (UNIDHA) Padang. An explanatory quantitative approach was used with a saturated sample technique. Based on the returned questionnaires, 125 respondents participated, comprising 97 lecturers and 28 education staff. Data were collected using questionnaires and analyzed using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) via SmartPLS software. The results showed that internal marketing had a positive and significant effect on both customer orientation and job satisfaction. In addition, job satisfaction had a positive and significant effect on customer orientation. Job satisfaction was found to partially mediate the relationship between internal marketing and customer orientation. The implication of this study highlights the importance of higher education institutions implementing strong internal marketing practices, such as career development, supportive leadership, and equitable rewards, to increase employee job satisfaction which directly leads to an optimal service orientation for students.]]>
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