Development of a customised scale to measure service quality in the life insurance industry

The services marketing literature focuses on the measurement of service quality and its impact and consequences on businesses. This is important as service quality affects behavioural outcomes such as repeat purchases and loyalty. Professional services are credence products with very little tangible cues to signal quality. In developing an initial tool for the life insurance context, the 32 attributes of service quality were operationalised. Six dimensions were generated which were identified as Assurance, Personalised Financial Planning, Similarity with Agent, Tangibles, Corporate Image and Competence. A cross- section of 182 recent buyers of life insurance policies from different companies in Singapore provided data on the way they rated their respective Insurance Agents. This study revealed the need to include two types of expectations, i.e. MSS and MSA to identify critical gaps in service quality. It further substantiated the need to examine current tools in service quality measurements. The proposed exploratory instrument used here to measure the service quality of the life insurance industry could serve as a start for other studies in the professional services context. The implications of the results of this study to the services marketing literature in general and to the life insurance industry in particular are discussed.