Behavioral Spillover in Customer Satisfaction: A Multistage Framework for Health Insurance

Abstract

Background - The decision to purchase a health insurance policy is a complex and expensive process with long-duration consumption. Customer satisfaction in the context of health insurance has always been studied at the claim settlement stage. In this study, we approach customer satisfaction as a multistage phenomenon by identifying factors contributing to customer satisfaction at each stage of the health insurance consumption process.
Methodology - The study conceptually builds on the behavioural spillover theory and follows a pragmatism-based research paradigm executed in three phases; (i) qualitative data collection and analysis, (ii) establishment of higher order constructs and hypothesis development, (iii) model development and testing. 
Findings: The study identified four factors at the selection, and two factors at the claim settlement stage that contributed to customer satisfaction and established that satisfaction at each stage impacts the subsequent decision with a few linkages happening at an intermediated level. Thus satisfaction has to be seen as a dynamic, multistage process with implications for subsequent decisions, including intermediate-level linkages which have not been documented before.
Originality - This research ventures beyond the traditional claim settlement focus to holistically examine customer satisfaction in Health Insurance—a long-term, complex financial commitment. It contributes a novel theoretical framework build over the behavioral spillover theory to the Health Insurance customer satisfaction literature, offering a foundation for further theoretical development and practical strategies to enhance insurer-customer relationships, potentially transforming industry practices and elevating customer experiences.
Research limitations/implications - The study has been limited to urban customers using a cross-sectional empirical design. Future studies may use longitudinal measures and experimental designs to bring in more robustness. In addition, other contexts of insurance and financial services may be studied in this line.
Practical implications - Insurance companies can implement the customer satisfaction framework proposed in the study for a more efficient rollout of their policies.
Social implications - The orientation of the study is based on a win-win approach for both the insurance companies and their customers leading towards societal wellbeing.