Open AccessMarketing Channels and Underwriting Service Quality of Life Insurance
Author(s) -
Tsai-Jyh Chen
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international review of financial consumers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2508-464X
pISSN - 2508-3155
DOI - 10.36544/irfc.2016.1.2
Subject(s) - underwriting , bancassurance , business , reputation , service (business) , marketing , life insurance , quality (philosophy) , service quality , actuarial science , channel (broadcasting) , empirical research , auto insurance risk selection , insurance policy , key person insurance , telecommunications , computer science , philosophy , epistemology , social science , sociology
This paper investigates the relationship between marketing channels and underwriting service quality with focus on two major channels: salesperson and bancassurance. Based on the data of life insurance in Taiwan, the empirical analysis shows that the traditional salesperson channel has competitive advantages in underwriting service quality. This result supports the coexistence of salesperson and bancassurance because previous literature indicated bancassurance more cost-efficient than a salesperson. The empirical result shows that insurers with more dependence on salesperson channel present lower complaint ratio and higher contract persistency due to better service quality. The empirical result also indicates that service quality has a significantly positive impact on insurer’s reputation. This finding implies that the insurers with more dependence on bancassurance should take additional competitive strategies to maintain the long-term customer relation.