Assessing Customer Perceptions and Behavior towards Digital Insurance Platforms

Thesis Abstract

The rapid digital transformation within the insurance industry has significantly altered the landscape of customer engagement and service delivery, raising critical questions regarding customer perceptions and behavioral responses to digital insurance platforms. Although the proliferation of online and mobile insurance services offers convenience and efficiency, there remains insufficient empirical understanding of how customers perceive these platforms, what influences their adoption, and how their behaviors evolve within this digital context. This study aims to systematically assess customer perceptions and behavior towards digital insurance platforms, with a focus on identifying key determinants of user engagement, trust, satisfaction, and continued usage. The specific objectives include (1) to examine the factors influencing customer perceptions of digital insurance platforms, (2) to analyze behavioral predictors of continuous engagement with these platforms, (3) to evaluate the impact of trust and perceived ease of use on customer satisfaction, and (4) to develop a conceptual model illustrating the relationships among these constructs. The study adopts a positivist research paradigm and employs a cross-sectional survey design to gather quantitative data, supplemented with exploratory qualitative interviews for contextual insights. The target population comprises adult insurance customers who have used digital insurance platforms within the past twelve months in a metropolitan region with high digital penetration, such as New York City. A stratified random sampling technique ensures representative diversity across age, gender, income, and insurance types, with a total sample size of 400 respondents determined via Cochran’s formula to ensure statistical validity. Data collection instruments include a structured questionnaire developed based on existing validated scales, measuring constructs such as perceived ease of use, perceived security, trust, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. The instrument’s validity and reliability are established through pilot testing and confirmatory factor analysis, achieving Cronbach’s alpha coefficients exceeding 0.75. Data analysis proceeds through descriptive statistics to profile respondent characteristics, followed by inferential techniques including multiple regression analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test hypothesized relationships among variables. The SEM approach, using software such as AMOS, facilitates the evaluation of the proposed theoretical framework grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), providing insights into the pathways influencing customer adoption and sustained use of digital insurance services. Expected findings suggest that perceived ease of use, perceived security, and trust significantly predict customer satisfaction and behavioral intention, with perceived risk acting as a moderating variable. Additionally, the study anticipates unveiling critical behavioral barriers and facilitators impacting digital insurance uptake, such as digital literacy and prior experience. These insights contribute new empirical evidence to the literature on digital financial services, specifically within the insurance sector, filling existing gaps concerning customer-centric models in the context of online insurance adoption. The study’s contribution lies in advancing the theoretical understanding of consumer decision-making in the digital insurance context, particularly by integrating TAM and TPB frameworks. Practical implications include informing insurance providers on designing user-centric platforms that enhance trust and ease of use, thereby increasing customer retention and loyalty. The main conclusion emphasizes the necessity for insurers to prioritize user trust and perceived ease of navigation in their digital offerings. Recommendations include developing targeted marketing strategies that educate consumers on platform security features, improving interface design for better usability, and fostering transparency to build trust. Future research directions propose longitudinal studies to examine behavior changes over time and qualitative investigations into customer experiences for richer contextual understanding. Overall, this study seeks to contribute to both academic scholarship and industry practice, promoting the sustainable digital transformation of the insurance sector through a nuanced understanding of customer perceptions and behaviors.