An examination of consumer responses to new technologies in the insurance industry : the case of Bâloise Assurances Luxembourg

Abstract

New technologies are part of our world. They change the way people live and industries need to adapt themselves to follow the trend in order to stay competitive. Some innovations are successes and others are failures. Technologies invade every industry and every sector, no field is left. However, some of them have more difficulties than others to adapt their structure. This is the case of the financial sector for example. Therefore, insurance companies innovate in order to stay competitive and develop new products such as the online insurance. However, this innovation does not receive the success expected. This dissertation is inspired by a practical case encountered during an internship at Bâloise Assurances Luxembourg Company. Innovation is an important subject for insurance companies and this firm has trouble with one of their projects: the online insurance. The purpose of this thesis is to understand why the consumer does not adopt the product. On the one hand, this dissertation tries to understand the process to adopt an innovation and highlights some factors that might affect the behavior of a consumer regarding a specific technology based on the literature review. On the other hand, the thesis aims to analyze the Goodstart product of Bâloise Assurances Luxembourg based on qualitative and quantitative analyses. Those analyses will enable the company to make some conclusions regarding the performances of its product and also the responses of the clients. The conclusion of all the tests performed will provide some recommendations to improve the product Goodstart and its adoption in order the company can profit by them.