The establishment of a good reputation often takes many years, but it can also be permanently destroyed in just a few minutes. The aim of this research is to identify and prioritize factors that determine the reputation of insurance companies in Germany and Slovakia. To ensure that reputation measures taken by the insurer lead to successful results and to model possible courses of action, the perspectives of both the companies and the customers are examined. After gaining an overview of the state of the problem through a systematic literature search, the perspective of the insurers was examined. For this purpose, twelve semi-structured expert interviews were conducted with executives from the insurance industry, which were evaluated qualitatively. Subsequently, the perspective of customers was examined by means of an online survey, which was answered by 224 insurance customers in Germany and Slovakia.
The most important factors for the formation of a positive reputation were identified as the speed of feedback and processing, as well as well-trained and motivated staff. The research has shown that in the insurance industry, different factors often determine reputation compared to other industries. Based on the results of the study, a 10-point plan was developed, which provides insurers with a basis for reputation management to eliminate possible reputation risks in advance and prevent reputational loss.
With a bilingual abstract in German and English.
Mit einem zweisprachigen Abstrakt in Deutsch und Englisch.
JEL Classification: G22, M31, M37, L14, L26, Y40
The author
Frank Gerwald, PhD. (born 1968) has been working in the insurance industry for more than 15 years. The trained wholesale and foreign trade merchant expanded his insurance knowledge through further training as a specialist in insurance and finance. After graduating from the Business Administration and Sales Management courses at the FOM in Düsseldorf, he successfully completed his doctorate at the University of Economics in Bratislava in 2023. Frank Gerwald currently works as a department head in a German insurance group. As a project manager, he also supports digitalization topics within policy processing and is part of the company’s internal AI thinktank.
ISNI No.: 51758146X, ORCID No: 0009-0006-7856-801X
Publication date 30.08.2024