Social Insurance Service Quality Surveys as a Customer Orientation Strategy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of service quality from the point of customers’ view using the services of institutions offering social insurance, and also to present how important is to measure service quality at insurance market. SERVQUAL method was applied with a seven-point Likert scale. The SERVQUAL method also took into account the extended minimum size. The study was conducted among the customers of the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) and the Agricultural Social Insurance Fund (KRUS) in north-eastern Poland. For five tested areas (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy) 20 questions were assigned. Actual, expected, and minimum quality of provided services was determined. Additionally, the gaps were defined which allowed organizations to evaluate the service in terms of efficient and effective customer service policy. The gaps identify the areas on which the company should pay a particular attention. According to the respondents, assurance area plays a major role among the dimensions mentioned. However, the research shows that empathy area was rated as the highest by the respondents. In turn, customers have the highest expectations in relation to the area of assurance. The biggest gap was observed in the dimension of responsiveness. In general it can be stated that quality of insurance services provided by the surveyed institutions were assessed at the good level. In many areas, the amendments should be introduced indicated in the next part of the article. Moreover, customers were grouped by demographic and social variables, depicting that older and better educated customers are more satisfied with the insurance service quality. Scientific contribution of the authors is preparation of the research questionnaire measuring the quality of insurance services that can be used by studied institutions to make good decisions. The conclusion briefly describes the potential for appication of customer satisfaction research and customer service strategies in the social insurance sector. Due to the study carried out, market institutions can properly identify customer needs in the services they provide and see occurring discrepancies.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.25.1.5115