Customer satisfaction and insurance service delivery quality in Kenya.

Abstract

Customer satisfaction is often considered to be a very significant factor for thriving in today’s fast globalizing insurance business and delivery of service quality, with internal and external customer satisfaction well thought-out as the most significant factor for gaining competitive edge in today’s highly changing insurance business and service delivery quality. This research focused on establishing the level of internal customer and external customer satisfaction and insurance service delivery quality in Kenya. Specifically the study aimed at determining the impact of service delivery quality on customer satisfaction in Kenya, and also to establish perceived service quality that contributes to customer satisfaction in Kenya. The study was underpinned on the dissonance theory and problem statement hinged on key customer satisfaction factors. A descriptive survey design was used in studying the research problem. The target population included all the 51 duly registered insurance companies in Kenya: of which, a simple stratified random sampling technique based on a 30% gauge was done to give a sample focus of 16 insurance companies. A further bias sampling of one individual from each of the Human Resource and Operations department and also two customers randomly chosen from the walk-ins was used to give a total of 64 respondents. The researcher collected quantitative and qualitative primary data by use of open and closed ended questions in questionnaires that were subjected to by a drop and pick criteria. Descriptive data analysis with Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21 and further refine in Microsoft excel was done, and presentation established by the help of mean, frequency and percentile tables and also by use of column and pie charts. From the 64 distributed questionnaires, 60 were filled and returned, giving a response rate of 94%. Majority of the respondents representing 51.7% came from the staff category, while the remaining 48.3% came from the customer category. However, there was a special category that overlapped the two categories. 96.7% of valid internal customer respondents indicated that they welcome the treatment they get within their line of duty; and further attributed job security, accommodative culture and employer appreciation as the main contributing factors. To further improve internal customer satisfaction, most of the respondents recommended lowering of job related stress and improving working conditions among others. 76.67% of the valid external customer respondents indicated that they welcome the treatment from the company with full satisfaction: those who do not, indicated that low quality services, unfriendly staff, higher premiums and poor communication as the main reasons. The study recommend that insurance firms should focus on enhancing employees reward systems and more staff training to increase motivation among the employees and improve insurance service delivery. Demonstrated desirable behaviors in service encounters increases employees satisfaction, their motivation, competencies, and commitment in insurance service delivery quality.