Shishi Kumar Piaralal

Human resource management factors and service recovery performance in Malaysian life insurance industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the human resource factors (rewards, training teamwork and empowerment) that affect service recovery performance (SRP) of customer service employees in life insurances companies. Life insurances industries in Malaysia are facing stiff competitions due to growing consumerism, changing consumer choices and expectations. SRP is very important aspect in the insurances firms toward retaining the customer and one of the key competitive advantages for sustainability and adding value to the organization in the future. Design/methodology/approach – The data obtained from 350 customer service employees based on convenience sampling were analyzed using regression and hierarchical analysis. Findings – There are two factors, namely, empowerment and training, affecting the SRP. The employment status moderated the relationship between reward and SRP. The limitations of this study have been noted and further research suggestions are also included that are very important for SRP. Originality/value – This study has added knowledge regarding the factors that affect SRP, in general, and precisely in life insurance industries in Malaysian context.

Factors affecting service recovery performance and customer service employees: A study of Malaysian life insurance industry

Purpose Service recovery is very important to the insurance industry; it helps to maintain clients, it is a crucial competitive advantage for business survival and it adds value for the organization’s continued future. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors influencing service recovery performance (SRP) of customer service employees in the life insurance industry from three dimensions; organizational (customer service orientation and top management commitment), human resource management (rewards, training, teamwork and empowerment) and personal (affective organizational commitment, role ambiguity, role conflict and emotional exhaustion). This study also investigated job satisfaction and the intent to resign. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered through self-administered questionnaires from 350 customer service staff employed by life insurance companies in the Northern region of Peninsular Malaysia by using a convenience sampling technique. Data were analyzed using multiple regressions. Findings The findings indicated that customer service orientation, training, empowerment, affective organizational commitment, role stressors and emotional exhaustion influenced staff’s SRP. The findings also showed that SRP influenced job satisfaction and intention to resign. Practical implications The research advances understanding of the influence of organizational, personal and human resource management factors on SRP and result constructs, namely, turnover intentions and job satisfaction. The researchers in Malaysia can use this model for future research in a service sector fields such as banking, retailing and hospitality to replicate and compare this finding. For practitioners especially the managers in insurance services providers can take actions and formulate proper strategies for customer service employees to deliver high level of performance in order to satisfied customer and continue stay in the organizations. Originality/value Very little attention has been given to examine the impact of human resource, personal and organizational factors on SRP and the influence of SRP on result constructs, namely, job satisfaction and intention to resign in the life insurances area. Furthermore applying equity theory especially in the SRP area was not given fully attention.