Determinants of digitally instigated insurance relationships

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model for explaining insurance customers' intentions towards using the internet as a channel for communication and interaction with insurance companies by integrating Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and trust.Design/methodology/approachThe paper seeks to conceptually develop an integrated framework for studying and measuring the perceptions of customers towards using the internet as a source of communication and interaction. The TAM model is taken as a point of departure where trust and trustworthiness, being essential in insurance relationships, have been included in the model. Trust is divided into perceived competence, perceived benevolence and perceived integrity, which in turn affect whether the customer will find the firm trustworthy or not. A second dimension that is developed in this paper is the disposition to trust, which is defined as a customer‐related factor. This disposition to trust is in turn affected by the customer's internet knowledge and product knowledge.FindingsThe paper contributes by developing the model for understanding and explaining factors that affect customers' attitudes and intentions towards on‐line interactions. By emphasizing internet‐, customer‐ and Ffrm‐related factors, it would arguably be possible to explain factors that affect trust, and trustworthiness, as well as the customer's attitudes towards the organization and the communication and distribution channel while also integrating the customer‐specific factors.Research limitationsThe model developed in this paper is conceptual and needs to be tested empirically.Originality/valueThe findings of this paper will serve as a basis for further research aiming at answering the research question on what factors affect customers' attitudes towards using the internet as an interface within the financial services sector. It also contributes to practices by identifying and defining factors that can affect trust in relationships as well as the choice of communication and distribution channels depending on customers' attitudes.

The key role played by intermediaries in the retail insurance distribution

“…Understanding these relationships and their link to performance requires an exploratory approach which gets as close as possible to the actors involved. Bigné and Blesa (2003) also supported the importance that trust has in distributors' satisfaction with the relationship developed with manufacturers (in this case, it would be with insurers) (see also Gidhagen and Persson, 2011;Das, 2016) The present study is even more relevant if we consider the implementation of Solvency II[1], namely, because insurers are concerned that some dimensions within Solvency II will produce unintended consequence and harm both insurers and their policyholders (Insurance Europe, 2017). In addition, the regulatory system in the insurance sector presents idiosyncrasies per country (see Brophy, 2012) but it can be expected that Solvency II will cause great impact.…”

“…For example, insurers and intermediaries should exchange more information about customer preferences or products with more coverage, and associated services (such as an online service platform or account manager, in line with Robson et al, 2016) should be presented to customers who buy more expensive products. This recommendation is consistent with Gidhagen and Persson (2011), Huckstep (2016) and Dalla Pozza et al (2017. In this way, it would be possible to prevent customers from comparing products with low prices (in line with Gázquez-Abad and Sánchez-Pérez, 2009) and increase the attractiveness of products.…”

Understanding the impact of financial incentives on NFC mobile payment adoption

“…TAM was adapted to study how financial incentives could affect consumers’ intention to adopt NFC mobile payment (see Figure 1). TAM is one of the powerful models in examining the determinants of consumers’ intention to adopt new technology (Gidhagen and Persson, 2011; Kesharwani and Bisht, 2012; Kim and Shin, 2015; Koksal, 2016; Mohammadi, 2015; Patel and Patel, 2018). According to TAM, consumers’ intention to adopt a newly developed technology is determined by two beliefs: perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness (Davis, 1989).…”

The impact of insurance coverage on consumer utilization of health services

“…However, unlike carriers of home insurance, auto insurance, and especially life insurance policies, carriers of medical insurance may have cause to want to utilize services and interact with their providers. Research has found that other insurance carriers rarely interact with their providers and prefer to not fully utilize the product (Gidhagen and Persson, 2011). In contrast, customers who carry health insurance have the opportunity to enhance their lives by utilizing preventive services through insurance coverage.…”