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臺大管理論叢
第
27
卷第
2S
期
139
Do Insurance Brokers or Agents Provide Superior Claim Service
Quality?: Empirical Evidence on Automobile Liability Insurance in
Taiwan
1. Introduction and Literature Review
In Taiwan, distribution systems of the insurance market are composed of direct
underwriting and insurance intermediary. The direct writer channel can sell policies only for
one insurer. The insurance intermediary
20
acts as the broker and independent agent, and can
sell products for various insurers.
The issue of the coexistence of distribution systems has motivated researchers to
contribute to insurance literature. Some studies
21
highlight the relationship between the
insurer and the agent, whereas others
22
focus on the relationship between the insured and the
agent. Past literature has two types of hypotheses to support the coexistence of distribution
systems. On the one hand, the market imperfect hypothesis claims that because asymmetric
information exists in the insurance market, clients cannot be aware of the differences
between the service qualities of different marketing channels. As such, an inefficient
insurance intermediary can still remain in the insurance market.
23
On the other hand, the
product quality hypothesis states that the insurance intermediary can offer better service
quality than the direct writer channel. As a result, the insurance intermediary, which
represents an expensive channel, can continue to exist in the insurance market.
Chun-Ting Liu
, Assistant Professor, Department of Insurance and Finance, National Taichung University
of Science and Technology
Jui-Yun Wu
, Associate Professor, Department of Risk Management and Insurance, Feng Chia University
Chao-Feng Chiang
, Associate Professor, Department of Risk Management and Insurance, Ph.D. Student,
Program of Finance, Feng Chia University
20 In product quality hypothesis, the term of independent agent or insurance intermediary is used in most
cases to represent insurance brokers or brokers channel. However, insurance agent and insurance broker
are defined differently in the insurance law in Taiwan. to avoid readersʼ misunderstanding, this study
replaces the term of independent agent with insurance broker or agent to fit in with the actual situation in
the insurance market in Taiwan.
21 Joskow (1973); Cummins and VanDerhei (1979); Barrese and Nelson (1992); Blair and Herndon (1994);
Barrese et al. (1995); Kim et al. (1996); Regan and Tennyson (1996); Regan (1997); Berger et al. (1997);
Klumpes (2004).
22 Posey and Yavas (1995); Kim et al. (1996); Posey and Tennyson (1998); Venezia et al. (1999); Trigo-
Gamarra (2008); Eckardt and Räthke-Döppner (2010); Hsieh et al. (2014)
23 Joskow (1973); Klumpes (2004).