Internal marketing: an exploratory study of the implementation of internal marketing in small insurance brokers in the UK.

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in research on internal marketing in the marketing services literature. This has arisen largely from the suggestion that internal marketing contributes to services companies' success through its role in developing customer orientation among employees, leading to a consistently high level of customer service quality. Most research on internal marketing has however been conducted in large firms and consequently research in this field in small firms is scarce. Specifically, research on internal marketing in small insurance brokers has been limited despite the significance of the insurance sector to the UK economy as a source of both employment and income. The literature review concludes that small insurance brokers are being squeezed out of the market due to the challenging nature of the insurance market. This thesis investigates the understanding and use of internal marketing in small insurance brokers in the UK and its role in developing customer orientation among employees. A qualitative research approach was used to collect data from managers and employees within small insurance brokers in the UK. More specifically, a series of semi-structured interviews was conducted to find out how the terms internal marketing and customer orientation were understood and to explore internal marketing activities and the extent to which it has been used to develop customer orientation among employees. This research contributes to knowledge on internal marketing by identifying: the impact of broker size on the formality of its application; the differences between employees and managers with respect to their understanding of the term; the differences between commercial and personal-insurance with regard to their awareness of the role of internal marketing in developing customer orientation among employees; and the impact of an external factor (the FSA) on the manner of its adoption. The research findings indicated: that there is a lack of understanding of the concept of internal marketing within small insurance brokers; that it is used informally, except for employee training which has been introduced to satisfy the FSA regulations; that there are some linkages between the elements of internal marketing; and that small insurance brokers lack awareness of its role in developing customer orientation among employees.