An assessment of factors affecting the quality of service offered by underwriters to Insurance brokers in Kenya
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Date
2012-12-21
Authors
Awuor, Joseph Oyugi
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Abstract
Today, globalization and liberalization are affecting economies of not only developed
but also developing countries. The focus for organizations is changing from profit
maximization to maximizing profit through customer satisfaction. Insurance enables
enterprises to better manage their financial affairs and protect households from
financial losses arising from accidents and injuries among others. The quality of
service offered by Underwriters to Insurance Brokers is important business strategy
which insurance companies cannot ignore. According to Insurance regulatory
authority (IRA report 2007), the insurance regulator received a total of 2500
complaints against insurers from their clients. This raises the issue of the quality of
services the customers receive from the insurers especially the brokers who form the
largest clientele for the underwriters and who often are in regular contact with
customers. Zeithaml et al, (1990) explains that researching on intermediate customers
such as agents, brokers, and distributors is important because they serve the end
customers. Researching on their needs and expectations can be useful and efficient
way to obtain information about the end users. This study sought to assess the factors
affecting the quality of service offered to insurance brokers in Kenya. The study
adopted a descriptive research design. The target population for this study included all
Insurance Brokerage firms in Kenya. The study utilized primary data, which was
collected using questionnaires. The data was analyzed using qualitative and
quantitative techniques. This involved reducing the raw data to a manageable size,
developing summaries, looking for patterns and applying statistical techniques and
factor analysis. The data was presented through the use of tables, bar charts and pie
charts among others. The study established that the underwriters were unreliable,
lacked assurance and empathy when settling the customers' claims. In addition, the
underwriters took a lot of time to honor customers' claims. This had a negative effect
on the quality of the services offered by the underwriters. This study recommends that
the management of the underwriting firms need to put in place strategies that will
fasten the claim response time. These could include delegation of duties, motivation
of staff and simplification of policy documents among others; on the other hand the
regulator should put in place punitive measures to ensure compliance to the Insurance
Act, Cap 487 Laws of Kenya as pertains to claims settlement. This will go along way
in improving the quality of the services offered not only to insurance brokers but also to all the customers.