SERVICE QUALITY PERCEPTIONS OF CUSTOMERS ABOUT INSURANCE COMPANIES

The objective of the present study is to compare and analyze the service quality perceptions of customers about the public sector and private sector insurance companies. The study also seeks to find the relevant dimensions of the SERVQUAL/SERVPERF scale in insurance industry in Indian context. Exploratory factor analysis was used. As a result five factors were extracted using the methods of principal component analysis. The five factors extracted in case of public sector insurance company explained 78.34% of the variance; where as five factors extracted in case of private sector insurance company explained 77.07% of the variance. Regression results show that except tangibility dimension, beta coefficient values for other four dimensions of service quality namely; empathy, reliability, assurance, responsiveness are higher in case of public sector insurance companies.Results of t-test led to the inference that there is significant difference in the service quality perceptions of public and private sector insurance companies