| Author: | Chiu, Yu-chun Benjamin |
| Title: | A multi-channel relationship commitment model for the life insurance industry |
| Degree: | D.B.A. |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Subject: | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations. Insurance companies -- Management. Marketing -- Management. Customer relations. |
| Department: | Graduate School of Business |
| Pages: | viii, 154 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | There has been a paradigm shift in the marketing discipline from focusing on transactional exchange to relational exchange with customers to generate value and reduce cost. This paradigm shift has had a profound impact on practitioners in the life insurance industry, and the situation has become more complex still with the advances in the Internet technology, which have enabled insurers to nurture relationship commitment with customers through multiple channels, including the online channel and the traditional agency channel. A multi-channel relationship commitment model for the life insurance industry is proposed in this research that integrates theories from the relationship marketing and information systems disciplines. Taking the customers of the online policy service of a major insurer in Hong Kong as the research sample, the proposed model structure is empirically tested using data from a survey of 515 insurance customers. A partial least-squares structural modeling approach is used to evaluate the explanatory power and causal links of the model. The results indicate that trust is a strong predictor of relationship commitment, and that satisfaction drives relationship commitment both directly and indirectly through trust. Of all of the satisfaction dimensions that were measured, core service satisfaction was found to be the most important, with the effect of agency satisfaction being the next most significant and online satisfaction being the least influential. However, online satisfaction was found to negatively moderate the influence of core service satisfaction and agency satisfaction on trust, the anticipated disintermediation phenomenon is supported. The interactions among the constructs suggest a dynamic and changing customer orientation as a result of the introduction of the online channel, and the indications are that this channel may well take a more central role in the future, which is an interesting area for further study. Relationship building helps companies gain a competitive advantage in the dynamic business world, and is likely to become increasingly important in the future. The empirical research on a multi-channel relationship commitment model in this thesis provides a small but meaningful contribution to theory development on relationship commitment in the consumer market. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b21990098.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 15.49 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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