Abstract:
Amidst increasing competition, insurance companies are looking for ways to differentiate their services
in the eyes of their customers and to attain high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty. From the
customer’s perspective, the determinants of customer satisfaction are thought to include factors such
as trust, good relationship, and salesperson’s ethics. Therefore, the salespeople of business need to be
perceived as ethical, trustworthy, and pleasant by their customers. This study focuses on how a
salesperson's ethical sales behavior can build customer trust in the salesperson, which in turn
influences customer satisfaction and loyalty in the long-term insurance industry. This research
represents an initial step in analyzing the role of ethical sales behavior, as perceived by long-term
insurance customers, in developing and maintaining satisfaction and loyalty among the customers. A
pretested structured questionnaire was administered with a randomly selected sample of long-term
insurance policyholder (n=126). A Linear Regression and Correlation Analysis were carried, using the
SPSS Software (Version 17). The findings revealed that a salesperson’s ethical behavior leads to higher
customer trust and satisfaction, which in turn, enhances loyalty to the insurance company that the
salesperson represents. The outcome of analysis provide insights to understand how salespersons
behavior influence on formation of long-term relationships with customers in insurance industry in Sri
Lanka and how it can be used by marketers to plan their promotional decisions on insurance products.
