Methods of service quality assessment in managing the property insurance market

Abstract

Polish business insurance market may now be characterised as a dynamically developing segment of the financial market. One of the reasons for this state of affairs may be the organizational and legal system, the origin of which was the package of insurance laws of2003 in response toPoland’s accession to the European Union (EU). On the one hand, the growing number of insurance institutions (insurers) increase competition [Bednarczyk 2011, pp. 100-103; Owsiak, 2015, pp. 246-291; Ronka-Chmielowiec 2016, (ed.), pp. 26-30; Cycoń, Jedynak, Strupczewski, (eds.), 2017, pp. 10-11] while, on the other hand, according to the Author of this monograph, it has increased the standards that should be met in order to achieve a competitive advantage [2013, pp. 148-158]. The competition among insurance institution is one of the main prerequisites of growing expectations of the buyers [Jędrzejczyk, 2013, pp. 25-42]. Customers possess more and more knowledge and, consequently, the awareness of what surrounds them; therefore, they expect that insurance institutions will fulfil their needs. Otherwise, there is a risk that an insurance institution may lose its market share in favour of its competition. Long-term relations between insurance institutions and their customers prove that insurers endeavour to offer high quality services which meet customers’ requirements. Moreover, customer behaviour is an important contribution to improving financial results of insurance institutions. Therefore, it is essential that insurers focus their strategy on improving the quality of their services and, consequently, on meeting their customers’ needs. “High service quality results in customer satisfaction” [Karatepe, Yavas, Babakus, 2005, p. 373] which, to a large extent, “increases their loyalty” [compare: Lenka, Suar, Mohapatra, 2009, p. 47] and, consequently, helps insurance institutions to “improve their efficiency” [Yeung, Chew, Ennew, 2002, pp. 24-33]. Thus, high service quality leads to an increase in competitive advantage because buyers feel satisfied, i.e., they are more inclined to continue buying the services of the insurance institution and to recommend it to others. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically measure property service quality and to establish the areas in need of improvement.