Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction: An Analysis of The Nigerian Insurance Sector

Customer is the most important part of any business and the success or failure of an organization depends on how it treats its customers. If the organization keeps its customers happy and satisfied then it is quite probable that the business will flourish and the company would grow. The significance of customer satisfaction has further enhanced in the modern times as the companies are jostling for customer share and have also acknowledged the importance of satisfied and loyal customers. There are various factors that influence customer satisfaction, and service quality is believed to be one of them. The current research studied this particular factor and its impact on customer satisfaction particularly in the insurance sector in Nigeria. Insurance is an important service industry and till some time back customer satisfaction was not given a lot of importance in the sector. However with modern form of insurance the scenario has begun to change. The objectives for the study are- 1. To explore the general factors of importance for customer who use the various insurance products in Nigeria and influence of each factor on buying perspective of the customer. 2. To discover and compare customers’ perceptions of actual experience and their evaluation of service quality performance within the Nigerian Insurance Sector. 3. To evaluate the significance of the difference between the exact and overall components of importance and actual experience in Insurance with focus on the Nigerian Insurance Sector. Various scholars have given their inputs on the subject of service quality and few of these studies were analyzed in the literature review chapter. The concept of service quality as given by Parsuraman et al. (1988), Zeithaml (1988) and other researchers was elaborated in the section. The chapter also discussed the various models of service quality, and how service quality relates to customer satisfaction. Further the importance of service quality to the insurance sector in Nigeria was also briefly discussed. The literature review chapter provided the direction to the study and for further understanding of the Nigerian perspective, the study was carried out among the customers of NICON Insurance Plc of Nigeria. The perspective of customers was captured by way of a survey, and the study established that the customers were satisfied with the service quality of the company to a large extent. The study also established that the employees honored their commitment, and they attempted to resolve their issues accordingly. On the whole the customers of NICON Insurance Plc are quite satisfied because of the company’s service quality delivery.