Purpose This study aims to review the published empirical research on relationship orientation in banking and insurance services. The objective of the study is to understand whether a strong customer–sales representative relationship contributes to sales effectiveness and to know the significance of relational behaviors in developing and maintaining long-term relationship. Design/methodology/approach Through Boolean search, a systematic review with narrative synthesis was conducted. Relevant electronic bibliographic databases and reference lists of pertinent review articles were searched. Screening and eligibility of articles were based on participants, interventions, comparisons, outcomes (PICO) model and PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews) guidelines. Findings A total of 22 papers were finalized for the study, and results reveal that customer orientation behavior and adaptive selling behavior of sales representatives improve relationship quality, culminating in higher customer satisfaction, enhanced loyalty and escalated commitment, whereas selling orientation diminishes the relationship quality. The attributes of sales person especially contact intensity, contact frequency and client knowledge augment sales effectiveness and longstanding relationship with the customers. Practical implications This paper would provide valuable insights for financial sales representatives, academicians and practitioners of relationship marketing in the area of banking and insurance services. Personalization and customizations are important aspects of the provision of social benefits that strengthen competitive advantage. Originality/value Although the relevance of relationship marketing has been acknowledged, the conceptual base of relationship orientation in banking and insurance services has received only limited attention.

The Insurance industry participates in various processes that are characterized by data exchange, which is modified or updated by many parties. Hence, the insurance industry can benefit from the adoption of blockchain technology. However, there is a lack of understanding of the technology, the legal implications and the issues in implementing the technology. This paper aims at finding potential opportunities for the insurance sector on the implementation of blockchain technology. It also discusses issues and concerns for insurance companies wanting to adopt block chain technologies. A search was carried out for relevant electronic bibliographic databases (searched by means of keywords), articles published in scientific journals, websites of consultancy firms and blockchain developers, and reference lists of relevant review articles. Articles were screened and eligibility was based on participants, procedures, interventions comparisons, outcomes (PICO) model and criteria for PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews). A total of 23 papers were finalized after scrutiny for this study whereby the results disclose that blockchain, as a single source of reality, has the potential to improve productivity and mitigate the complexity of the insurance processes. Examples of real-world applications and insurance use cases are presented to demonstrate the strengths & capabilities of the technology. This study also considers the present-day issues, risks and concerns in the implementation of the blockchain technology. Finally, the challenges and obstacles in the application of Blockchain technology in the Insurance Sector is highlighted and presented.

Purpose The biggest challenge in the Indian life insurance industry is mis-selling and unfair business practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of relational selling behaviour on investor decision making in life insurance market in India. This study also aims to elucidate the mediating role of trust in predicting the purchase of life insurance policies by investors. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey was carried out to collect quantitative data using a validated structured questionnaire. A total of 813 policyholders of life insurance companies operating in Karnataka, South India, were chosen. The data were analysed using the partial least square method of structural equation modeling. Findings The process of investors’ life insurance buying decision is directly influenced by interaction intensity, co-operative intentions of agents, sharing of overt and covert policy information, and indirectly through the partial mediation of trust. Also, trust fully mediates the effect of agent disclosure and personal rapport on decision making by investors. The importance‒performance map analysis highlights the pivotal role of overt policy information in investors’ decision making. Practical implications The financial mis-selling in India can be curtailed significantly if the insurance companies insist on responsible and relational selling by their sales agents. The companies would also strategically gain by investing in trust-building programs that enhance quality interactions and honest disclosure of overt and covert policy information, unpretentious intention to co-operate in the policy selection, and emphasize emotional connection and personal rapport with customers. These genuine actions and behavioural manifestations would certainly facilitate appropriate decision making by the investors. Originality/value There is a paucity of research in India which explicates the role of relational selling behaviour in insurers’ decision making. As such, this article expands the scope of relational marketing research in insurance by assessing the relational determinants of investor decisions as well as the role of trust as the mediator in influencing insurance decision making.

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The distribution channels play an imperative role in the life insurance industry. In India, traditional and corporate agency are contributing immensely to the profitability of the insurance companies. The challenges faced by the distributional channels such as high attrition, soaring expense ratio and sales inefficiency have created the need to probe into the efficiency aspects of the channel players. In the absence of such studies in India, this article evaluates the technical efficiency of distribution channels in life insurance industry by analysing the data collected from 12 insurance companies for the period 2012 to 2016. The efficiency scores were obtained by applying data envelopment analysis that considered two inputs (number of agents and commission expenses) and two outputs (average business premium and total policies sold). The findings reveal no significant difference in the efficiency scores of bancassurance and traditional agents. Quiet life hypothesis that market share (ratio of premium contribution to total premium) of distributional channels and their efficiency scores are negatively correlated is not supported. Moreover, the slack analysis shows excess inputs per output generated for both the channels. If the companies that scored low in efficiency do not plug the leakages regarding commission as well a number of agents, adverse performance in the long-term and consequent financial crisis are inevitable.