Abstract: Purpose âTo examine the effect of culture on service quality and customer satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach â By extending GIQUAL, an instrument developed for measuring service quality in Greek Insurance, to measure the culture of individuals, hypotheses on all twenty-five possible relationships between the dimensions of culture and of service quality are determined and tested. The relationships between the dimensions of service quality and customer satisfaction, in the light of culture, are further examined.
Findings â Twenty-three out of the twenty-five hypothesized relationships between the dimensions of culture and of service quality are confirmed and the remaining two are directionally supported. The hypothesized importance of the service quality dimensions is also confirmed. However, the expected association between the importance of quality dimensions and the strength of their relationships with customer satisfaction is only directionally supported. Although the typology of Hofstede is used in the study, a culture different from the one specified for Greece by Hofstedeâs scores is exposed.
Research limitations/implications -The main limitations of this study are first, that it is based on a single service industry and secondly, that convenience sampling is used. However, its methodology and conclusions provide a solid basis for future research.
Practical implications â Insight on using culture for directing resources where quality investments are needed most is provided to managers. Although weak, the directional support for the hypothesized effect of the importance of quality dimensions on their relationships with customer satisfaction enhances the value of the findings. Different sub-cultures that may be found in varying market segments can be used for determining quality investment priorities.
Originality/value â This study explores the effects of culture on service quality and customer satisfaction drawing evidence from Greek Insurance.
Abstract: Purpose â To investigate the path service quality ï customer satisfaction ï loyalty, at the level of constructs, drawing from the Greek insurance industry.
Design/methodology/approach â A SERVQUAL type service-quality instrument is developed for Greek Insurance. Confirmatory and Exploratory Factor Analyses are used to determine the scaleâs dimensionality. Path Analysis is utilized to examine a model linking Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty at the level of constructsâ individual determinants.
Findings â SERVQUALâs dimensionality is not confirmed. A Non-Tangibles, Tangibles structure exists in Greek Insurance. âTangiblesâ does not affect Customer Satisfaction while WOM is an antecedent of repurchasing intentions. Satisfaction does not directly influence the latter.
Research limitations/implications â This study suffers the limitation that it tests the fit of the model within the limits of a single service industry. Another limitation is availability sampling. However, the satisfactory fit of the estimated model allows for the study to be a reliable comparison basis for future research.
Practical implications â Insurance managers may use GIQUAL for measuring the quality of insurance services offered. They must improve the intangible rather than the tangible elements of service and direct their support mechanisms towards developing customers willing to engage in positive WOM. The proposed model can be used to provide comparable findings across sectors, countries and time provided that, in each case, an appropriately customized SERVQUAL type scale is used.
Originality/value â This study explores the service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty path at the level of specific dimensions drawing from Greek Insurance.
Abstract: Previous research has confirmed that there is widespread customer dissatisfaction in the insurance industry, stemming from insurersâ failure to satisfy customersâ needs. Ignorance of customersâ insurance needs (inability to match customers perceptions with expectations), and inferior quality of services largely account for this. Therefore, further research to improve the industryâs understanding of service quality is imperative. Using data from the Greek and Kenyan insurance industries we construct diagnostics and measure service quality with a view to identifying quality determinants and existing quality gaps in the industries. We recommend quality improvement strategies to apply in each case, discuss the comparatives and then conclude with our view on the efficacy of the SERVQUAL diagnostic in assessing service quality in the insurance industry
Abstract: This paper attempts to portray a picture of the Private Insurance Industry in Greece. The legal and institutional framework, currently in effect, is outlined and the position of the Greek Insurance Market in comparison to the corresponding European Markets is examined. The situation in life and non-life sectors is presented as well as the sales channels in effect. The industryâs main quality issues are identified and the marketâs prospects are finally presented
Abstract: One of the most important functions of enterprises is advertising as a means of systematically ap-proaching specific market segments and informing prospective customers for their products, services or even their existence. The purpose of every advertising campaign is to achieve the greatest possible im-pact, to the market segments addressed, within the frames of a given budget and under a set of qualita-tive or quantitative constraints. The cost to benefit relationship of such a campaign is an important issue for every enterprise and in particular for small or medium ones. Linear programming techniques can contribute towards the effective allocation of advertising expenses and the use of MS Excel Solver fa-cilitates the resolution of the resulting mathematical models
Notes: Advertising expenses, Linear Programming, MS Excel Solver
Abstract: Although more effort and resources are traditionally directed to aggressive marketing, to gain new customers, research has shown that defensive strategies, concerned with retaining customers, can be more profitable (Fornell, 1992). High customer retention leads to long-lasting customerâprovider relationships that, in turn, lead to improved financial performance through increased cross selling, possibly at higher prices, repeat purchases and positive word-of-mouth communication (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; Reichheld, 1996; Grönroos, 2000).
The prevailing idea in the literature is that the behaviour of customers towards a service firm is driven by their loyalty (or disloyalty) to the firm (e.g. Jacoby and Kyner, 1973; Bansal and Taylor, 1999) which comes as a result of how much customers believe that what they get from a specific supplier is worth more than what they can get from others. Previous research has shown that loyalty is primarily affected by satisfaction and service quality (e.g. Zeithaml et al., 1996; Bloemer et al., 2002; Durvasula et al., 2004). A number of other variables, such as price and value, are also discussed in the literature as affecting customer loyalty either directly or through service quality/customer satisfaction (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Culture has been recently assigned a prominent place in this discussion and a whole stream of research has been initiated concerning cultureâs consequences on service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty (e.g. Furrer et al., 2000; Liu et al., 2001).
This research is designed to address the literature gaps in three distinct but interrelated research areas: a) the cross-cultural/cross-sectional applicability of the SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al., 1988) metric, b) the relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty at the level of individual dimensions and c) the role of culture in these interactions. To accomplish its objectives it draws evidence from Greek insurance, an under-researched industry in an under-researched culture.
Research was divided into three stages, each with distinct activities. The initial stage included an extensive review of the literature on the variables and dynamics that determine the behavioural intentions of customers. It provided the theoretical foundations on which the empirical part of the study was based.
The second stage (Phase I of the empirical research) dealt with research instrument design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of findings: a) to establish SERVQUALâs (Parasuraman et al., 1988) applicability in Greek insurance and b) to test a model, the constituent variables of which are service quality, customer satisfac-tion and customer loyalty, but at the level of individual dimensions rather than on the aggregate. This stage provided a number of valuable findings. The customized SERVQUAL metric and the model were found reliable, valid and stable. However, the dimensionality of service quality in Greek insurance limited the ability of this re-search to produce a more extended list of results at this stage.
The third stage (phase II of the empirical research) involved: a) the re-assessment of the findings of phase I and b) the examination of the effect of culture on service quality perceptions and customer satisfaction under a new perspective that relates the cultural characteristics of customers (Hofstede, 1980, 1991) with the importance to them of the five dimensions of service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1988) and customer satisfaction.
It was found that the importance of service quality dimensions to customers is related to their cultural profile. In this respect, culture can serve as a determinant for directing quality resources towards where they matter most. However, the relationship between culture and customer satisfaction, through the latterâs relationships with the dimensions of service quality, was only directionally supported. Hence, this particular issue must be the subject of further research.
