International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management

The role of salespeople in developing life insurance customer loyalty

Tsu-Wei Yu, Lu-Ming Tseng,
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IJRDM
44,1
The role of salespeople in
developing life insurance
customer loyalty
22 Tsu-Wei Yu
Received 13 June 2014
Department of Insurance, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung,
Revised 19 September 2014 Taiwan, and
17 October 2014
14 November 2014 Lu-Ming Tseng
6 July 2015 Department of Risk Management and Insurance, Feng Chia University,
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16 July 2015
Accepted 7 September 2015 Taichung, Taiwan

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to closely investigate the antecedents affecting relationship
quality and its consequences between life insurers and their customers.
Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from the customers of life insurers’ customer
relationship management centres and were analysed using in-depth interviews and questionnaires.
A structural equation modelling approach is employed to test the hypotheses.
Findings – The findings are generally consistent with the literature. This study supports all
hypotheses. Finally, the findings of this study confirm that relationship quality mediates the effects of
salesperson characteristics and relational selling behaviour on customer loyalty.
Originality/value – To the authors knowledge, there is little published research that examines
antecedents and consequences of relationship quality in life insurance industry in Taiwan. Therefore,
in addition to developing high-quality services, life insurers need to establish and maintain long-term
relationships with customers in order to create corporate innovation value.
Keywords Customer loyalty, Relationship quality, Relationship selling behaviour,
Salesperson characteristics
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
In recent years, national income and quality of life in Taiwan have risen, driving an
increasing demand for insurance products, and as a result, Taiwan’s life insurance
industry has seen a steady growth curve. According to the Taiwan Insurance Institute
(2013), Taiwan’s ratio of life and annuity insurance coverage was 229.67 per cent,
representing a ratio of the number of in-force life and annuity insurance policies to the
size of the population. This figure lies in between Japan’s (455.98 per cent) and
the USA’s (137.79 per cent) and South Korea’s (130.60 per cent). Taiwan’s total premium
income ranked 11th in the world in 2013.
With the growing popularity of insurance, businesses in Taiwan are adopting a
much more customer-oriented approach. Life insurers feel that they can no longer rely
on traditional strategies that were product-oriented and depended on policies being
sold through the sales staff’s own social networks. This approach ignores real product
demand while resulting in sales that usually lack more complete after-sales services.
International Journal of Retail &
Distribution Management At present, life insurers are working on differentiating customer groups, identifying
Vol. 44 No. 1, 2016
pp. 22-37
their various needs, and launching products that target these groups.
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited Life insurance is a high credence service where the future benefits of products are
0959-0552
DOI 10.1108/IJRDM-06-2014-0074 difficult to prove. Customers are generally less confident of their ability to judge the
 worth of the offerings and are inevitably more careful in making their purchase Life insurance
decisions. Thus, their relationship with the salesperson is often an important factor customer
in the customer’s purchase decisions. To our knowledge, there is little published
research that evaluates antecedents and consequences of relationship quality in the life
loyalty
insurance industry in Taiwan.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the antecedents affecting relationship
quality and their effects on life insurers and their customers. Comprehending the 23
determinants of relationship quality can provide useful insights for developing
strategies that allow life insurers to retain customers.
The remainder of this study is organized as follows. In Section 2, we describe the
theoretical background and present the hypotheses. We next present the methodology,
followed by the results. Finally, we conclude by discussing the results, identifying their
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implications for scholars and practitioners, and recommending future research

directions.

2. Literature review and hypotheses development

2.1 Relationship quality
The concept of relationship quality can be seen as a multidimensional
meta-construct that reflects the overall nature of the relationship between a
company and its consumers (Aziz and Noor, 2013; Hennig-Thurau et al., 2002), and is a
condition for a long-term relationship and for customer retention (Moliner et al., 2007).
Among the dimensions of the relationship quality construct, studies of consumer
marketing have consistently adopted the concepts of trust and satisfaction (Lin and
Ding, 2005). However, a majority of authors have also added the dimension of
commitment (Qin et al., 2009; Tsao and Hsieh, 2012), while still others have incorporated
additional dimensions (e.g. affective conflict in Roberts et al., 2003 or social bonds in
Lang and Colgate, 2003). So, in this study, we conceptualize the construct of
relationship quality in the life insurance industry using satisfaction, trust, and
commitment. These dimensions all involve a long-term orientation and a connectivity
with consumers (Farrelly and Quester, 2005; Lang and Colgate, 2003) that have
withstood the tests of time and scrutiny (Macintosh, 2007).
2.1.1 Satisfaction. Satisfied customers are more inclined to be loyal (good
relationship), producing several benefits for an organization (Chang and Wang, 2011;
Jamal and Anastasiadou, 2009). For example, customer satisfaction increases favourable
behavioural intention to the service providing units (Pappas et al., 2014; Chen et al., 2012;
Tsoukatos and Rand, 2006). Conversely, a dissatisfied customer is not expected to have a
good relationship with an organization (Roberts et al., 2003).
2.1.2 Trust. Trust is a necessary ingredient for a long-term salesperson-customer
relationship (Twing-Kwong et al., 2013; Orth et al., 2013; Poon et al., 2012) reflecting
the willingness to depend on the exchange partner (Bergh et al., 2011). Trust exists
when there is sufficient confidence in the exchange partner’s reliability and integrity
(Palmatier et al., 2006). In essence, trust captures the belief that sellers will stand
by their word (Anderson and Narus, 1990) and fulfil their promised obligations. Long-
term relationships exist because trust reduces uncertainty and the likelihood of
opportunistic behaviour (Hausman, 2001).
2.1.3 Commitment. Commitment exists when one party believes a relationship is
important and warrants maximum effort to maintain or enhance it (Morgan and Hunt,
1994). Committed customers experience relationship closeness (Geyskens et al., 1999),
 IJRDM which over time enhances customer loyalty (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Therefore,
44,1 commitment can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage because it offers
cost reduction, enhanced profits, positive word-of-mouth, and the prospect of sales at a
premium price (Hur et al., 2010).

2.2 Antecedents of RQ
24 For RQ, we observed that the variables used by researchers belong to the following two
major categories:
(1) Salesperson characteristics include variables such as a salesperson’s expertise,
likeability, and similarity with their customer (Boles et al., 2000; Rajaobelina and
Bergeron, 2009).
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(2) Relational selling behaviour. Kim and Cha (2002) is termed, “relationship
orientation” whereas Smith (1998) used the term “relationalism”, and Boles et al.
(2000) developed the term “relational selling behaviour”, which also includes
information sharing and mutual disclosure (Lin and Ding, 2006), plus interaction
frequency, bilateral communication, courtesy, explanation, and cooperative
intentions.

2.3 Relationship between salesperson characteristics and relationship quality

Expertise is typically assessed by the salesperson’s knowledge, technical competence
and ability to provide answers to specific questions (Guenzi and Georges, 2010; Jamal
and Anastasiadou, 2009). Crosby et al. (1990) found that insurance salespeople’s
expertise has a significant effect on relationship quality. Experienced and knowledgeable
salespeople can reduce customers’ uncertainty and feelings of vulnerability during
their encounters (Guenzi and Georges, 2010). The level of expertise possessed by the
salespeople, which includes knowledge, experience or skills relevant to a particular
domain or activity, is a vital determinant of relationship quality (Rajaobelina and
Bergeron, 2009; Spake and Megehee, 2010).
Likeability refers to person’s assessment that the other party is friendly, courteous,
and pleasant to be around (Guenzi and Georges, 2010; Yi et al., 2011). A friendly
salesperson will usually try to give the customer the impression that he or she
is benevolent, which in turn leads to trust (Chen et al., 2008). Furthermore, a
likable salesperson is more likely to make the customer feel pleasant and satisfied
(Chen et al., 2008).
Salesperson-customer similarity (i.e. in terms of lifestyle, social class, education
level) has been examined in a large number of empirical studies in marketing and social
psychology, and has been debated in sales research for over 35 years (Lichtenthal and
Tellefsen, 2001). Some researchers have found statistically significant relationships
between similarity and performance criteria, such as greater relationship investment,
trust, satisfaction, and sales (Lee and Dubinsky, 2003). As relationship quality is a
second-order construct of trust, satisfaction, and commitment (Rajaobelina and
Bergeron, 2009), we hypothesize:
H1. Salesperson characteristics (expertise, likeability, and similarity) positively
influence relationship quality.
2.4 Relationship between relational selling behaviour and relationship quality
Boles et al. (2000) and Biggemann (2012) developed the term “relational selling
behaviour”, which includes information sharing, mutual disclosure, interaction frequency,
 and cooperative intentions, plus information sharing is said to be essential for trust and Life insurance
satisfaction (Biggemann, 2012; Wong et al., 2007). Scholars in general conceptualize customer
information sharing in terms of quality (i.e. timeliness, accuracy, completeness,
adequateness, and reliability) and content ( Jeong and Hong, 2007; Li and Lin, 2006).
loyalty
For example, information sharing facilitates the solving of problems and the
establishment of good relationships between suppliers and their customers (Claro and
Claro, 2010). Consequently, providing information sharing services to business customers 25
can help reduce uncertainties inherent in inter-organizational processes and activities
(Tai and Ho, 2010).
Among the behaviours often noted as important in establishing and maintaining
interpersonal relationships is mutual disclosure (Macintosh, 2009). It is important to
note that this dimension of relational selling behaviour is often cast as a reciprocal
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concept. That is, the perception that another party is engaging in disclosure behaviour
that is not being reciprocated is read as a weakness and may lead to an unhealthy
relationship. Likewise, a party engaging in unreciprocated disclosure is likely
to distrust the other party. In a relational sales setting, customer disclosure is
critical for the salesperson, who is often called upon to solve complex and poorly
structured problems. Therefore, a reluctance on the part of the customer to reveal
critical personal and/or business-related information may block or severely delay a
satisfactory problem resolution.
Moreover, interaction frequency is vital because it reflects an effort on the part of
the salesperson (insurance service provider) to maintain open communication channels
with the customer and to exhibit a commitment to the relationship (Boles et al., 2000;
Crosby et al., 1990). More frequent interactions are likely to lead to the processing of
greater amounts of information, thereby reducing uncertainty and ambiguity on
the part of both salespeople and customers (Ndubisi, 2007). From the above findings,
the following hypothesis can be derived:
H2. Relational selling behaviour (information sharing, mutual disclosure, and
interaction frequency) positively influences relationship quality.
2.5 Consequences of RQ
Customer loyalty has always played an important role in maintaining and increasing
sales (Seock and Lin, 2011; Hur et al., 2010), so in this study, customer loyalty is
conceptualized to include the behavioural aspect of repurchase intention and the
attitudinal aspect of willingness to recommend, known as positive word-of-mouth
(Berger and Schwartz, 2011; Marinković and Senić, 2012). Life insurers aim to ensure
that their marketing efforts generate favourable behavioural outcomes. Customer
loyalty in the business world has long been considered a key behavioural outcome
(Hennig-Thurau et al., 2002; Wong and Zhou, 2006). Customer loyalty is generally
expressed in terms of two behavioural outcomes (Chen and Cheng, 2012): repurchase
intention and willingness to recommend.
Repurchase intention is the degree to which customers are willing to purchase the
same product (or service) or to repurchase any product (or service) from a particular
organization (Lin and Liang, 2011; Kuo et al., 2013). Willingness to recommend is the
extent to which customers will inform their friends, relatives, and colleagues about
their consumer experience with the service provider (Eisingerich and Bell, 2007; Gaur
et al., 2011). Willingness to recommend is a powerful force in influencing future buying
decisions, particularly when the service is perceived as high risk for the customer; plus
it also helps to attract new customers as relational partners (Molina et al., 2007).
 IJRDM 2.6 Relationship between relationship quality and customer loyalty
44,1 In this study, customer loyalty is conceptualized to include the repurchase intention
and willingness to recommend (sometimes defined as word-of-mouth) (Rajaobelina
and Bergeron, 2009). The concept of loyalty is similar in definition to commitment
(Wang and Wu, 2012). The essence of repurchase intention is critical to the insurer
(Hellier et al., 2003). For instance, customer loyalty can also lower costs and increase
26 profitability, as the cost of recruiting a new customer is said to be five times the cost
of retaining an existing customer (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). Product or service
providers can thus increase profits and reduce costs as long as they can retain
customers and induce their repurchase intentions (Kuo et al., 2013).
Huntley (2006) found that when relationship quality is high, customers are more
willing to recommend the salesperson’s offerings to colleagues and that they purchase
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more from the salesperson. Maintaining a high-quality relationship appears to help

increase the customer’s willingness to recommend the products and to have long-term
relationship with the salesperson (Chen and Lai, 2010; Chen and Mau, 2009; Finn, 2005;
Crosby et al., 1990). Based on the above discussion, we hypothesize:
H3. Relationship quality (satisfaction, trust, and commitment) positively influences
customer loyalty.
H4. Salesperson characteristics (expertise, likeability, and similarity) positively
influence customer loyalty.
H5. Relational selling behaviour (information sharing, mutual disclosure, and
interaction frequency) positively influences customer loyalty.
Figure 1 depicts our model and hypotheses.

3. Methodology
3.1 Data collection procedures and sample gathering
Since customer relationship management centres (CRMCs) have interactive
communication with customers, customer service staff working in such centres must
offer personalized services in order to increase customer satisfaction, customer value,
and customer loyalty in the long run (O’Reilly and Paper, 2012; Valsecchi et al., 2007).
The selected samples for this study were chosen from customers of life insurer CRMCs.
Mixed methods were used, including both interviews and surveys, in order to find
the best combination of results in order to qualify and achieve data richness ( Järvinen
and Suomi, 2011). In-depth interviews were conducted before the survey, and with the
help of the Taiwan Insurance Institute, interviews with high-ranking managers of
the CRMCs of five life insurers (Cathay, Fubon, Shin Kong, Nan Shan, and MassMutual
Mercuries) were conducted to ensure that relationships between the independent and

Salesperson characteristics
• Expertise
• Likeability Customer loyalty
Relationship quality
• Similarity • Repurchase intention
• Satisfaction
• Trust • Willingness to recommend

Relational selling behaviour • Commitment

Figure 1.
• Information sharing
Theoretical
• Mutual disclosure
framework • Interaction frequency
 dependent variables were not overlooked in the development of the final survey Life insurance
instrument (Siu et al., 2004). Each interview session lasted from 45 minutes to one hour, customer
using an interview outline with open-ended questions based on the review of the
literature and the opinions of managers working at the CRMCs of life insurers.
loyalty
A pilot study was then conducted and comments and suggestions from various
university professors, researchers, practitioners, graduate students, and customers
were received about the instrument, and then the instrument was refined further by 27
incorporating their suggestions.
According to the Taiwan Insurance Institute’s (2013) figures on the market share
of life insurers in Taiwan, the top five companies are Cathay (21.20 per cent), Fubon
(16.26 per cent), Nan Shan (14.90 per cent), Shin Kong (6.60 per cent), and Taiwan Post
(6.08 per cent), respectively, accounting for 65.04 per cent of the market. Due to both
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time and expense considerations, only customers of the CRMCs at these five companies
in the Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung metropolitan areas were sampled for the
survey. Kerlinger and Lee (2008) contended that the number of samples used for factor
analysis should be at least ten times the number of question items. The questionnaire
employed in this study contained 32 items. We distributed 600 questionnaires: Cathay
(200), Fubon (150), Nan Shan (100), Shin Kong (80), and Taiwan Post (70), and to
increase the response rate, we sent follow-up letters two weeks later. A total of 352
questionnaires were returned, of which 55 were eliminated and discarded for outliers.
The process yielded 297 completed questionnaires (a response rate of 49.5 per cent).
t-Tests results indicated that early respondents and late respondents showed no
significant difference ( p ¼ 0.41), indicating that non-response bias was not a concern in
this study ( Joshi and Sharma, 2004).

3.2 Measures
This study examined the relationships among characteristics of the salesperson,
relational selling behaviour, relationship quality, and customer loyalty. All items were
measured by response on a five-point Likert scales of agreement with statements,
ranging from 1 ¼ strongly disagree to 5 ¼ strongly agree. The operational definitions
and methods of measurement are as follows.
We define expertise as the expertise of salespeople, which includes expertise in
different products and markets. The scale is drawn from Jamal and Anastasiadou
(2009) and is divided into a three-item scale of professional knowledge, product
presentation ability, and ability to answer questions on the life insurance industry.
Likeability refers to the customer’s assessment that people find the life insurer
salesperson friendly, nice, and pleasant to be around. Salesperson likeability
was measured through the three-item scale adapted from Yi et al. (2011), and
referenced above.
This study defines similarity between customer and service representative in terms
of lifestyle, social class, and education level, among other such characteristics.
Similarity was measured using three items adopted from Lichtenthal and Tellefsen
(2001) and Yi et al. (2011).
Information sharing is thought to be an antecedent of relationship quality. For the
purposes of this study, three items related to the sharing of information effectively in
an empathetic manner developed by Li and Lin (2006) were used.
Mutual disclosure refers to the extent to which a lifer insurer is perceived to provide
sensitive information about the company. Three items were adapted from Crosby et al.
(1990) and Lin and Ding (2006).
 IJRDM Interaction frequency refers to the interactional relationship between customers and
44,1 the customer representatives from life insurers’ CRMCs. This two-item scale is based
on modifications of Boles et al. (2000).
Relationship quality is operationally defined as the extent to which good relations
are maintained between life insurers and customers. We employed ten items from
Chenet et al. (2010) and Twing-Kwong et al. (2013) to assess this, as follows:
28 (1) trust refers to the extent customers have confidence in life insurers’ actions
designed to improve their long-term interests in the transaction relationship;
(2) satisfaction refers to the extent of customers’ contentment with the software
and hardware environment offered by life insurers; and
(3) commitment refers to the completion status of items promised by life insurers to
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customers.
Customer loyalty is defined as the customers’ intention to repurchase insurance
products again and to offer positive word-of-mouth. Five items were drawn from
Chen and Cheng (2012) and Roberts et al. (2003) to measure repurchase intention and
willingness to recommend. Repurchase intention and willingness to recommend were
used to accommodate the specific characteristics of the life insurance industry:
(1) repurchase intention refers to customers’ intention to purchase a company’s
insurance products again; and
(2) willingness to recommend refers to customers’ intention to recommend a
company name to others.

4. Analysis and results

4.1 Description of sample
Table I shows the profile of respondents in the one sample.

Item Category Sample %

Gender Male 155 52.2

Female 142 47.8
Age ranks (years) Below 20 18 6
20-25 52 17.5
26-30 67 22.6
31-35 70 23.6
36 or above 90 30.3
Educational background Non-college graduate 50 16.8
College 231 77.8
Graduate school 16 5.4
Working experience (years) No 3 1
1-3 35 11.8
3-5 60 20.2
5-7 55 18.5
7-9 99 33.3
Table I. Over 9 45 15.2
Demographic Area Taipei 107 36
information on Taichung 92 31
respondents Kaohsiung 98 33
 4.2 Measurement model Life insurance
We evaluated the reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the customer
research model via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using Amos 21.0 software
(Byrne, 2001). CFA was preferred over exploratory factor analysis because it is
loyalty
theory based, accounts for measurement error, and tests for unidimensionality
(Hair et al., 2010). First, when the standardized factor loading ranges between 0.50
and 0.95, the measurement model achieves basic goodness-of-fit (Bagözzi and 29
Yi, 2012). Second, the composite reliability (CR) of the latent variables was used to
measure the reliability of latent variables. The higher the CR value, the more
effectively the construct reliability of a specific latent variable could be determined.
Bagözzi and Yi (2012) suggested that the CR value be higher than 0.6.
The convergent validity represents the common variance between the indicators
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and their construct and is measured by the average variance extracted (AVE).
The acceptable threshold should be superior to 0.5, and all latent variables should
comply with this pre-requisite (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). The figures shown in
Table II indicate that good internal quality exists within the research model. Finally,
to test for discriminant validity, the correlation of a construct with its indicators
(i.e. the square root of the AVE) should exceed the correlation between the construct
and any other construct. As shown in Table III, the findings suggest adequate
discriminant validity, since all diagonal elements are greater than the off-diagonal
elements in the corresponding rows and columns. In sum, the measurement model
demonstrated adequate reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity.

4.3 Structural equation model (SEM)

4.3.1 Overall model results. A SEM was used to test the goodness-of-fit. The overall
acceptability of the analysed structural model was acceptable (Hair et al., 2010):
χ2 ¼ 452 ( p ¼ 0.00), χ2/df (degree of freedom) ¼ 3.24, GFI ¼ 0.94, AGFI ¼ 0.91,
NFI ¼ 0.95, and RMSEA ¼ 0.05. The standardized path coefficients were then
applied to verify the hypotheses.
4.3.2 Hypotheses testing. The positive correlation between salesperson’s
characteristics and relationship quality reached a level of significance (0.61**),
indicating that the better the salesperson’s characteristics, the higher the relationship

Construct Measurement aspects SFL (t-value) CR AVE

Salesperson characteristics (α ¼ 0.90) Expertise 0.82 (17.85)** 0.90 0.81

Likeability 0.85 (18.15)**
Similarity 0.71 (16.02)**
Relational selling behaviour (α ¼ 0.89) Information sharing 0.79 (17.43)** 0.90 0.75
Mutual disclosure 0.75 (17.01)**
Interaction frequency 0.81 (17.80)**
Relationship quality (α ¼ 0.90) Trust 0.86 (18.16)** 0.91 0.85
Satisfaction 0.78 (17.42)**
Commitment 0.73 (17.34)**
Customer loyalty (α ¼ 0.92) Repurchase intention 0.78 (17.39)** 0.92 0.79 Table II.
Willingness to recommend 0.83 (17.88)** Confirmatory factor
Notes: SFL, standardized factor loading; CR, composite reliability; AVE, average variance extracted. analysis result
**Statistically significant at p o0.01 of measures
 IJRDM Variables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
44,1 1. Expertise 0.71
2. Likeability 0.35 0.68
3. Similarity 0.36 0.32 0.74
4. Information sharing 0.28 0.33 0.41 0.72
5. Mutual disclosure 0.31 0.35 0.29 0.37 0.65
30 6. Interaction frequency 0.51 0.37 0.41 0.44 0.39 0.71
7. Trust 0.36 0.38 0.42 0.47 0.44 0.45 0.74
8. Satisfaction 0.40 0.42 0.36 0.48 0.38 0.35 0.32 0.69
9. Commitment 0.39 0.32 0.38 0.41 0.42 0.37 0.36 0.38 0.66
10. Repurchase intention 0.41 0.43 0.47 0.42 0.45 0.39 0.31 0.42 0.51 0.79
11. Willingness to recommend 0.23 0.28 0.33 0.26 0.35 0.39 0.41 0.38 0.29 0.25 0.75
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Table III. Notes: Diagonal elements in italic are the square roots of the AVE; elements below the diagonal
Discriminant validity represent construct correlations

quality between the customers and the companies, supporting H1. H2, which predicted
that relational selling behaviour has a significant positive impact on relationship
quality was also supported (0.56**). Relationship quality significantly influenced
customer loyalty (0.75**), thus supporting H3. A significant path estimate was found
between a salesperson’s characteristics and customer loyalty (0.49**), showing that
salesperson characteristics increase customer loyalty, thus supporting H4. H5, also
supported, that relational selling behaviour positively affects customer loyalty (0.43**).
The testing model with all indicators is presented in Figure 2, while the results for the
model are shown in Table IV.

5. Discussion and implications

This study sheds light on the antecedents of relationship quality and its consequences
in the case of life insurance CRMCs in Taiwan, using in-depth interviews and
questionnaires. Traits of salespeople explored in this study include expertise,
likeability, similarity, information sharing, mutual disclosure, interaction frequency,
and relationship quality; while for customers, we investigated repurchase intention and
willingness to recommend. To date, little published research has examined relationship
quality in the development of customer loyalty in the life insurance industry in Taiwan.

Expertise 0.82
0.85 Trust Satisfaction Commitment
Salesperson
Likeability characteristics

0.71 0.86 0.78 0.73

Similarity 0.61**

Relationship quality
0.49**
Information sharing
0.79 0.56**
Relational
0.75 0.75**
Mutual disclosure selling behaviour
0.78 Repurchase intention

0.81 0.43**
Interaction frequency
Figure 2. Customer loyalty 0.83
Willingness to recommend
Model and SEM
estimation results Note: **Statistically significant at p < 0.01
 Hypothesis Causal paths Coefficient (t-value)
Life insurance
customer
H1 Salesperson’s characteristics→relationship quality 0.61 (8.14)** loyalty
H2 Relational selling behaviour→relationship quality 0.56 (8.56)**
H3 Relationship quality→customer loyalty 0.75 (9.12)**
H4 Salesperson’s characteristics→customer loyalty 0.49 (7.91)**
H5 Relational selling behaviour→customer loyalty 0.43 (7.24)**
Model fit statistics 31
χ2 test ¼ 452 (p ¼ 0.00)
χ2/df (degree of freedom) ¼ 3.24
Goodness-of-fit index (GFI) ¼ 0.94
Adjusted goodness-of-fit index (AGFI) ¼ 0.91
Normed-fit index (NFI) ¼ 0.95
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Table IV.
Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) ¼ 0.05 The structural model
Notes: All coefficients are significant (t-valueW2.58). **Statistically significant at p o0.01 results

This study makes four important contributions to the literature.

First, this study explores salesperson characteristics, relational selling behaviour,
relationship quality, and customer loyalty to elucidate the importance of life insurance
customer services in Taiwan.
Second, most studies of relationship quality target the retail industry (Vesel and
Zabkar, 2010). There is little published research that evaluates antecedents and
consequences of relationship quality by life insurers in Taiwan. Our findings can help
decision makers in insurance services organizations by focusing on the mediating
effect of relationship quality as a decision tool ( Jansen et al., 2011).
Third, in the field of insurance marketing channels, this study is the first to examine
the relationship between CRMCs and customers.
Fourth, this study includes both qualitative and quantitative methods of data
collection and analysis; SEM is used to examine the causal relationship of the
constructs.
Fifth, the findings in this study are useful for the management of marketing
relationships with customers of life insurers.

5.1 Theoretical implications

Theoretically, these findings on salesperson expertise, likeability, and similarity
suggest that both short and long-term effectiveness are influenced by salesperson
characteristics. As has been noted, perceived expertise in the basic product line (in this
instance insurance) is important, but in long-term exchange relationships, this takes
on added meaning as the salesperson’s consultative role expands, and it becomes clear
that solutions to the customer’s problems must transcend traditional service
boundaries. Likability and similarity can also bolster the customer’s confidence in
predicting the life insurer’s future behaviour. Sales personnel can be taught to exhibit
likability by demonstrating friendliness and by making efficient use of the customer’s
time. To project similarity, sales personnel probably should establish common ground
with the buyer, a recommendation consistent with the findings of Crosby et al. (1990),
Chen et al. (2008), Guenzi and Georges (2010), and Yi et al. (2011). An interpretation
of these results is that relationship quality serves as an indicator of the health and
future well-being of long-term service sales relationships.
 IJRDM For relationship selling behaviour, consistent with other studies, the findings of this
44,1 study highlight the critical role of information sharing in influencing relationship
quality (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Information sharing positively influences the quality
of the relationships between life insurers and customers, and frequent exchanges of
information allow the parties to understand each other’s goals and resources, as well as
their respective limitations. If the perceived impressions are generally favourable,
32 regular information sharing can help develop a sense of closeness and ease in the
relationship. A salesperson who feels comfortable in the selling/closing aspects of
the sales job also appears to be more likely to disclose information about him/herself
and the selling firm. This mutual disclosure can lead to a stronger relationship between
the salesperson and the customer and to a superior sales performance as assessed by
a quantitative measure of performance (number of policies sold), since the salesperson-
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customer have developed some level of rapport through mutual disclosure. When
salespeople are in frequent service contact with their customers, the customers
must engage in a series of relational exchanges. For customers, in addition to having
immediate communication with salespeople over market information, their
establishment of an open communication channel with sales personnel can also erase
their feelings of psychological insecurity incurred from market volatility, and therefore
result in a more timely response. In other words, the stronger and more frequent the
interaction, the higher the customer satisfaction and trust. This study’s results confirm
that relational selling behaviour significantly and positively influences satisfaction,
trust, and commitment, which complies with the theory of the positive influence of
relational selling on relational quality put forth by Crosby et al. (1990), Boles et al.
(2000), Claro and Claro (2010), Biggemann (2012), and Aziz and Noor (2013).
Our study also empirically supported the link between relationship quality and
repurchase intention, confirming the findings of Wong et al. (2007), Eisingerich and Bell
(2007), Chen and Lai (2010), Seock and Lin (2011), Lin and Liang (2011), Kuo et al. (2013),
and Pappas et al. (2014). Additionally, we found that willingness to recommend is
linked to relationship quality.

5.2 Practical implications

These findings have clear implications for managers, relationship quality, a higher
order construct made up of trust, satisfaction, and commitment, strengthens
salesperson-customer relationships, and improves customer repurchase intention and
word-of-mouth, which in turn leads to increased profits for life insurers (Chen and Mau,
2009; Hellier et al., 2003; Tsoukatos and Rand, 2006; Qin et al., 2009). When relationship
quality is good, customers will have a long-term relationship with their respective
CRMCs and will be more likely to provide referrals. Further, as Table V shows, the total
effect of the salesperson characteristics on customer loyalty is 0.95, roughly split
between direct effect (0.49) and the total indirect or mediated effect of relationship
quality (0.46). The initiating structure of the relationship quality effect on customer

Direct effect Total indirect effect Total effect (Direct+indirect)

Table V.
Direct and indirect Salesperson characteristics 0.49 0.46 0.95
effects on customer Relational selling behaviour 0.43 0.42 0.85
loyalty Relationship quality 0.75
 loyalty of 0.75 is the relationship quality mediation effect on the linkage between Life insurance
salesperson characteristics and customer loyalty. Similarly, the total effect of 0.85 by customer
the relational selling behaviour on customer loyalty is significant, with contributions
from the direct effect (0.43) and the total indirect or mediated effect of relationship
loyalty
quality (0.42). The initiating structure of the effect of relationship quality on customer
loyalty of 0.75 is the relationship quality mediation relationship on the linkage between
relational selling behaviour and customer loyalty. 33
5.3 Industry implications
The findings of this study were found to be very important for policy makers of the
relevant authorities and will help policy makers in formulating policy. In addition, to
develop high-quality services, life insurers need to establish and enhance long-term
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relationships with customers in the insurance industry (Pappas et al., 2014; Aziz and
Noor, 2013; Twing-Kwong et al., 2013; Tsoukatos and Rand, 2006).

5.4 Limitations and future research

As this study used one self-reported survey to collect data on all of variables, common
method bias may be present, therefore, following Podsakoff et al. (2003), Harman’s
one-factor test was used. Consequently, a factor analysis of the dependent and
independent variables did not yield a single-factor structure that would account for a
majority of the variance, thus common method bias does not appear to be a problem in
the samples. Future studies may enhance the generalizability of the relationship quality
model developed in this study by applying it to various other industries and in other
locations.

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Corresponding author
Tsu-Wei Yu can be contacted at: a11111@ms19.hinet.net

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