Analytical Perspective of Service Gap and Factors of Service Quality in Indian Life Insurance Industry

Abstract

Even after almost two decades of operating in the market, the private companies of Indian Life Insurance sector are not being able to outperform the sole public sector company, i.e. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). Delivering the quality of service is the core of modern day marketing; therefore, this paper attempts to explore the gaps that exist between the expectation and perception of service among the customers of the private sector of the life insurance sector of India and also to identify the factors that contribute a decisive role in creating the perception of service quality for the customers of the Indian private life insurers. So, to conduct this study, data were assimilated through primary sources by structuring a questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL scale. In the span of 6 months, 613 responses were received through snowball sampling technique by Google spread sheet, out of which only 487 responses were found to be thorough and without any errors. To analyze the collected data, t-test has been employed to conduct the gap analysis while Factor analysis has been used for identifying the factors responsible for the perception of service quality. The results of the study exhibit a vast variance in customers’ expectations and perceptions of service quality, which implies dissatisfaction among customers while eight factors have been recognized that influence perception of service quality in the private sector of Indian Life Insurance.

Keywords: Service Quality, Life Insurance Industry of India, SERVQUAL, Gap Analysis

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