This thesis, written by Ruba Hassan Makki, under the guidance of his/her thesis supervisor. Satisfaction Trust and Commitment, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE in Islamic Financial Management. This thesis, written by Ruba Hassan Makki, under the guidance of his/her thesis supervisor and approved by his/her thesis committee, was submitted to and accepted by the Dean of Postgraduate Studies and Research on………., in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER SCIENCE in……….
The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional, survey research was to determine the relationship between agents' ethical behavior and customer attitude, satisfaction, trust, and commitment. An online questionnaire was used to collect measurable data from bank customers in Jeddah, KSA who were subscribed to the Takaful insurance plan. Similarly, no statistically significant relationship was found between Takaful agent ethical behavior and customer commitment to Takaful insurance companies (r=.172, p=.224).
However, a statistically significant positive correlation was established between the ethical behavior of Takaful agents and customer satisfaction with Takaful (r=.463, p=.001).
INTRODUCTION
- Background
- Problem Statement
- Research Aim, Objectives and Questions
- Structure of Thesis
The problem addressed in this study is the paucity of empirical evidence on the relationship between agent ethical behavior and customer attitudes, satisfaction, trust and commitment. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between agent ethical behavior and customer attitudes, satisfaction, trust and engagement. To examine the relationship between the ethical behavior of Takaful agents and customers' attitudes towards Takaful insurance companies.
To examine the relationship between the ethical behavior of Takaful agents and customer satisfaction with Takaful insurance companies. To investigate the relationship between ethical behavior of Takaful agent and customer trust in Takaful insurance companies. To investigate the relationship between Takaful agent's ethical behavior and customer commitment to Takaful insurers.
What is the relationship between Takaful agent's ethical behavior and customer commitment towards Takaful insurance companies. The last chapter contains the conclusions and recommendations based on the findings of this study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
- Introduction
- Scope
- Nature of Islamic Life Insurance
- Implications of the Ethical Behaviour of Insurance Agents
- Perceptions and Attitude of Islamic Life Insurance Customers
- Relationship between Ethical Behaviour of Insurance Agents and Islamic Life
- Key Observations
The literature review focuses on the relationship between ethical behavior of the agents who are the sellers and attitude, perception, satisfaction, trust and commitment towards the customers in Islamic life insurance. The second area that the literature review will focus on is the implications of the ethical behavior of insurance agents. The third area that the literature review focuses on is Islamic life insurance customers' perceptions, attitude, satisfaction, trust and commitment.
Another important aspect of Islamic life insurance is that it currently constitutes a very small part of the market. Annuar (2005) as well as Salleh and Kamaruddin (2011) observe that the ethical behavior of the agent is highly critical in determining the response of the customer. This is a clear indication that the ethical behavior of the agent has significant implications for the clients.
However, the insurance company is rarely seen and the agent is the direct representative of the company. The low level of awareness means that Islamic life insurance customer perceptions and attitudes are more agent-dependent than in conventional insurance. Another factor that has been found to influence customer responses to Islamic life insurance is reputation.
Size was also found to affect the attitude and commitment of the customer to the agent for Islamic life insurance customers. The literature review aimed to evaluate the relationship between the ethical behavior of agents and the attitude, commitment, satisfaction, trust and perception of the customers of Islamic life insurance products. In perception, the ethical behavior of the agent has been observed to have a direct effect.
However, the efficiency of the insurance company can affect the level of customer satisfaction in ways that the agent's ethical behavior cannot. A loyalty that is similar to commitment has also been directly related to the ethical behavior of the agent. Loyalty has been observed to be influenced by the agent's ethical behavior through honesty and trustworthiness (Mohamad and Nik Mutasim, 2011).
This observation highlights the need for a better understanding of the relationship between life insurance agents and customers. It also points to the high importance of agents in the growing penetration of Islamic life insurance products.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
Research Design
Sampling
Data collection
Results
- Demographic Results
- Takaful Agents’ Ethical Behaviour and Customer Attitude Towards Takaful
- Takaful Agents’ Ethical Behaviour and Customer Satisfaction
- Takaful Agents’ Ethical Behaviour and Customer Trust in Takaful
- Takaful Agents’ Ethical Behaviour and Customer Commitment
To determine the relationship between Takaful agents' ethical behavior and customer attitude towards Takaful, a bivariate Pearson correlation test between the means of the. The results revealed a Pearson correlation coefficient (r=.240) exceeding the significance threshold value of 0.05 at 0.086. The implication of this result is that there is no statistically significant relationship between Takaful agents' ethical behavior and customer attitude towards Takaful.
A bivariate Pearson correlation test was conducted between the calculated variable on agents' consumer behavior and the data obtained from the Takaful Satisfaction Questionnaire. This led to the conclusion that there is a statistically significant positive correlation between ethical behavior of Takaful agents and customer satisfaction with Takaful. Thus, the better the ethical behavior of Takaful agents, the higher the level of satisfaction of Takaful customers.
To examine any possible underlying relationship between the ethical behavior of Takaful agents and customer trust in Takaful, a bivariate Pearson correlation test involving the mean across all reflective indicators of ethical behavior of Takaful agents and customer trust was undertaken based on their assessment of honesty as implied in Takaful. The results (Table 4.4 below) revealed a significantly strong positive Pearson correlation coefficient (r=.822) that was statistically significant (p=.000). This result confirms that there is a strong, positive, statistically significant correlation between the ethical behavior of Takaful agents and customer trust in Takaful.
In other words, the more customers perceive Takaful agents to be ethical, the more they trust Takaful. A bivariate Pearson correlation test was conducted between the calculated mean variable of Takaful agent ethical behavior and commitment. However, the Pearson correlation coefficient had a significance value (p=.224) that was above the .05 significance level.
In effect, this meant that there was no statistically significant correlation between the ethical behavior of Takaful agents and customer commitment to Takaful insurance plans. Simply put, the ethical or otherwise unethical behavior of Takaful agents has no direct bearing on customers' commitment to Takaful insurance plans.
Conclusion
Recommendations
Takaful insurance providers must ensure that the agents acting on their behalf demonstrate trustworthy and sound ethical behaviour, especially when dealing with potential and prospective customers to ensure that they positively influence customer satisfaction. It is important that Takaful agents demonstrate highly ethical behavior in the form of informative disclosure of information regarding Takaful, including its positive and negative aspects, so that consumers can trust and rely on Takaful. There is a need for Takaful insurance providers to work diligently to determine the factors that influence consumer attitude and commitment towards Takaful, as no direct correlation has been found between Takaful agents' ethical behavior and customer attitude and commitment towards Takaful .
Implications
Al Wakalah and Consumer Preferences towards it: A Case Study of Two Takaful Companies in Malaysia. A Review of Awareness, Perceptions, Barriers and Future Insurance Needs: A Case Study of Takaful and Malaysians. Al Wakalah and its impact on the growth and performance of Takaful companies: a Malaysian case.
A Study on the Level of Knowledge and Understanding among Muslims of Concepts, Arabic and Sharia Terms in Islamic Insurance (Takaful). Islamic Banking: A Study of Customer Satisfaction and Preferences in Jordan, International Journal of Bank Marketing. The Effects of Personality Factors on Sales Performance of Takaful (Islamic Insurance) Agents in Malaysia.
The Effect of Takaful Agents' Islamic Relationship Marketing Practice on Customer Satisfaction, Trust and Commitment: An Empirical Study on 800 Family Takaful Customers. The Relationship of Takaful Agents' Islamic Ethical Behavior to Customer Satisfaction, Trust and Commitment: A Preliminary Analysis.
