International Journal of Management Volume 1 Issue 1 May 2010 pp.

59 - 70

IJM
IAEME

http://iaeme.com/ijm.html

AWARENESS OF ICT BY THE RURAL CUSTOMERS TOWARDS INSURANCE SERVICES

V. THAMODARAN1, Dr. M. RAMESH2 ABSTRACT
The term Information Communication Technology (ICT) encompasses computing & communication technologies and the associated with insurance sectors and its organizational activities in the last two decades a rapid evolution of ICT capabilities has been seen in homogeneous context. The most obvious is the search for a solution to what has long been an intractable problem: that rural India has remained poor while the rest of the country has moved ahead ICT has been recognized as an infrastructure in developed countries and its use has shown the path of rapid socio-economic development. An additional expectation is that ICT can be used innovatively to improve access to the large, underserved market. Imbalance in socio-economic development and urban-rural divide can only be arrested, if the infrastructure in rural areas is made sustainable, qualitative and a growth oriented business environment is created, however in developing countries, especially in India. Widespread adoption and application of ICTs across the different fields of society and the economy is presently considered to be the key factor behind boosting competitiveness and developing an informed society While till now both the practitioners and academics have mostly been concerned with how the penetration of ICT into organizations can be explained or understood, but its effects and also its implementation feasibility in a heterogeneous environment still remain to be researched upon in detail. Keys words: Insurance, rural Marketing, ICT, Awareness, Adoption, Services.
1 2

Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, India Reader, Department of Business Administration, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, India

International Journal of Management

INTRODUCTION
ICT is a part of the day-to-day reality of a rapidly increasing number of people everywhere, independent of Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT) of Nation. ICT provide new opportunities for those who are literate, have a good education and adequate resources. Disadvantaged and marginalized groups have little chance to automatically benefit from tools such as the Internet. This further increases social divides, widens the gap between rich and poor countries, regions, individuals and even between men and women. The Insurance sector in India is governed by Insurance Act, 1938, the Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956 and General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Act, 1999 and other related Acts. With such a large population and the untapped market area of this population, Insurance happens to be a very big opportunity in India. Today, it stands as a business growing at the rate of 15-20 per cent annually. Together with banking services, it adds about 7 per cent to the countrys GDP. In spite of all this growth, the statistics of the penetration of the insurance in the country is very poor. Nearly 80% of Indian population is without Life insurance cover and the Health insurance. This is an indicator that growth potential for the insurance sector is immense in India.

NEED FOR THE STUDY

Insurance market is a vitally important economic institution where mutually beneficial exchange between insurance organization - insurance takers and agents insurance companies is carried out. Consumers purchase the promise of the insurer to cover the financial consequences of a possible loss, paying the insurance premium for this service. The insurers take the liability to cover the losses in case of a probable harmful event and issue a special document testifying the power of the contract - the insurance policy. Information

60

International Journal of Management

is crucial for market exchange to occur - consumers have to possess the information about supply and prices, agents - about demand and paying ability of their clients.

Objective of the Study

i. To determine the level of adoption of ICT on insurance by the rural respondents iii. To examine the factors affecting the adoption of information communication technology (ICT) by the rural respondents.

Methodology
This was based on descriptive research type and convenience sampling technique has been adopted. The study was conducted at in and around of Pondicherry. 61 rural people were selected and a well structured, pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information from the respondents. The questionnaire contains five main parts. Part A includes three statements which examine awareness of insurance sectors through uses of mode of ICT. Part B includes three statements which assess their interest towards insurance information getting from various sources of ICT. Part C contains three statements which evaluate the information what they gained from ICT. The part D includes three statements that assess or their make trial to get information or purchase of new policies from both government and private sectors insurance. The final part includes the adoption process of rural respondents towards the insurance products or services. The respondents attitude were measured by five point Likert scale of agreement, running from strongly agree to strongly disagree (1= strong disagree, 2= disagree, and 3= neither disagree or agree 4= agree 5= strong agree).The higher the score the more favorable the attitude and so on. Further, the questionnaire was validated through a number of specialists in this field. Their comments were considered in the final version. At the analytical stage, several statistical techniques were employed to satisfy study objectives, including Frequency analysis, descriptive analysis, t test and One-Way ANOVA.

61

International Journal of Management

Limitation of the study

1. This study based only on rural respondents who have any insurance policies. 2. There were no female respondents. 3. Mode of ICT insisted to the respondents was internet and mobile access for their policies.

Analysis and Interpretation

Table1. One-way ANOVA test for factors of adoption process based on education, occupation and income level of rural respondents towards impact on ICT in insurance sectors.

Table 1: One-way ANOVA Test

Process factors Educational level Up to HSC UG/ Dip PG F P

Awareness

3.00

3.57

3.56

1.762

0.181

Interest

4.03

4.47

4.60

1.502

0.231

Evaluation

4.10

4.09

3.70

0.560

0.574

Trail

3.63

3.85

3.60

0.363

0.697

Adoption

3.76

3.95

3.80

0.189

0.829

62

International Journal of Management

Information communication technology is a powerful devices in the digital era. Table 1 explains the rural consumers opinion towards ICT depends on their education. Postgraduate consumer are more aware the ICT than others. They all very much interest to use the ICT for insurance services. But higher secondary level consumer is having less awareness on ICT but they adopt the ICT for services. The hypothesis (H2) states that There is no statistical difference in rural people towards adoption of ICT in insurance based on their education level. To test this hypothesis, mean scores, and F-values were calculated to examine if there are statistical differences between the means of respondent scores according to education, as shown in Table 1. The F= value of all factors are non- significant, the accepted H2. Thus results the clearly indicate that education level of the respondent does not show a significant influence on the process factors of ICT. Process factors Agriculture Business Employee Occupation level Pvt/Govt. F P

Awareness

3.36

3.57

3.83

0.914

0.407

Interest

3.80

4.84

4.53

11.255

0.000

Evaluation

4.05

4.05

3.83

0.110

0.896

Trail

3.61

3.68

4.33

1.347

0.268

Adoption

3.91

3.57

4.16

0.940

0.397

63

International Journal of Management

To test the hypothesis H3, There is no statistical difference in rural people towards adoption of ICT in insurance based on their occupation. ANOVA was applied and F values were calculated to find is there any statistical difference that exists in the mean scores of the respondents on the basis of their occupation. The F values clearly showed that all the process factors expect interest creation, is not significant. Thus the hypothesis H3 is much supported for the process factors awareness, evaluation, trail, and adoption of ICT. On the basis of occupation, but occupation showed a significant influence on interest creation .Also the mean value indicate that interest creation is more for the private / Govt. employees than Business people. Also it is very less for the agricultural people. Process factors Up to 5000 5000-10000 Income level Above 10000

Awareness

3.40

3.47

3.70

0.410

0.666

Interest

4.00

4.63

4.50

2.247

0.115

Evaluation

4.09

3.94

4.00

0.112

0.895

Trail

3.65

3.73

3.80

0.089

0.915

Adoption

3.78

4.15

3.40

1.786

0.177

From the above table explain that, the respondents opinion towards ICT depends on their income. In case of, above 10,000 income groups, the awareness (3.70) was high and trail (3.80) of ICT also made on these income groups. Interest (4.63) and adoption (4.15) of
64

International Journal of Management

ICT in the income groups of between 5000-10000 .The hypothesis (H4) states that There is no statistical difference in rural people towards adoption of ICT in insurance based on their income level. To test this hypothesis, mean scores, and F-values were calculated to examine if there are statistical differences between the means of respondent scores according to education, as shown in Table. The F= value of all factors are non- significant, the accepted H4. Thus results the clearly indicate that income level of the respondent does not show a significant influence on the process factors of ICT. Table 2 t test for process factors of ICT based on age group
Factors Frequency < 35 Years Awareness > 35 Years < 35 Years Interest > 35 Years < 35 Years Evaluation > 35 Years < 35 Years Trial > 35 Years < 35 Years Adoption > 35 Years 23 3.7826 .9980 23 38 3.6522 3.8684 1.1524 1.1191 0.302 .764 23 38 4.0435 3.7368 .8779 .9208 0.316 .753 23 38 3.6957 4.0263 1.1455 1.1965 0.64 .948 23 38 3.3913 4.6316 .7223 .9421 3.464* .001 N 38 Mean 3.5263 SD .9792 0.573 .569 t Sig

65

International Journal of Management

The respondents has been grouped in two segments depends on their age. The mean value was calculated for ICT factors among the groups. ICT awareness is more among the less than 35 years holder people and they also very much interest to use the ICT. They made an attempt to trail the ICT concepts for insurance services. Adoption of ICT also comparatively more among the young age people. The hypothesis (H1) states that There is no statistical difference in rural people towards adoption of ICT in insurance based on their age. To evaluate this hypothesis, mean scores, standard deviations, and t-values were computed to find out if there are statistical differences between the means of respondent scores according to age group of the respondents, as shown in Table 2. The result show that expect for interest creation, there is no significant difference that exist in rural people toward other adoption factors of ICT in insurance. On the basis of their age, thus accepted H1.It is found that the interest creation in adoption of ICT is higher for the rural people of age less than 35 years. When compared with higher age groups. All other process factors of ICT do not vary on the basis of the age of the rural respondents.

Table 3 t test for process factors for ICT based on their insurance policy organization
Factors Frequency Govt Orgn Policy Awareness Pvt Orgn Policy Govt Orgn Policy Interest Pvt Orgn Policy Evaluation Govt Orgn Policy 16 45 4.2500 1.1255 4.1111 1.1124 0.948 .346 16 45 3.5625 1.0308 4.2889 1.1205 0.119 .906 N 45 Mean SD t Sig

3.4444 .8409 0.454 .651

66

International Journal of Management

Pvt Orgn Policy Govt Orgn Policy Trial Pvt Orgn Policy Govt Orgn Policy Adoption Pvt Orgn Policy

16 45 16 45 16

3.8125 .9811 3.3111 45 -6.787 4.8125 16 3.4444 .7247 -6.076 4.9375 1.1236 0.00 0.00

The hypothesis (H5) states that There is no statistical difference in rural people towards adoption of ICT in insurance based on their organizational policy. To evaluate this hypothesis, mean scores, standard deviations, and t-values were computed to find out if there are statistical differences between the means of respondent scores according to organizational policy, as shown in Table 3. Similarly, figures in the table show that there are no statistically significant differences in consumer attitudes towards process factors in ICT There is significant difference in trial purchases and adoption of these things in private organization (mean value 4.811) among the rural customers is higher than the government organization (mean value 3.311). This suggests that we accept the null hypothesis (H5), which indicates that there are no different process factors of ICT, was same as in private and government organization except trial and adoption factors.

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

In the light of the overall findings the study concludes that, in general, most rural people are likely to have enough knowledge and skills in using the computer and have reasonable access to Internet services. They also maintain a positive impression about the current presentation and promotion of insurance companies web sites on the Internet. Unlike these features are not to be create awareness is seems to be a major concern to consumers.
67

International Journal of Management

The current study also examined possible differences among consumer subgroups in terms of age, education, occupation and income. The analysis shows that there were no significant differences in consumer attitudes due to these demographic variables, with the exception of occupation. The study concludes that the higher the income brackets of consumers, the more favorable the attitude towards adoption process of ICT. The research findings are also indicates the awareness and adoption process of ICT among rural people towards insurance services. Rural people have potential for insurance sectors and how they can be encouraged to make a better and more effective use of this uses of ICT. Furthermore, special efforts may have to be made to improve their awareness towards internet and telecommunication media. In fact, Consumers must be assured that their electronic transactions are sufficiently safe and secure. Without such assurance electronic buying technology may not thrive in a highly competitive and dynamic environment. In addition, future research efforts may give special attention to the security issues of ICT.

REFERENCES
1. Awojoola. S. (2007). Impact of Communication Channels on Information Dissemination among fish farmers in Ibadan metropolis. An unpublished B.Tech Thesis, Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, LAUTECH, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. 2. Bezjian-Avery, Alexa, Bobby Calder, and Dawn Iacobucci (1998), "New Media Interactive Advertising vs. Traditional Advertising," Journal of Advertising Research, 38 (July/August), pp.23-32.

3. Bezjian-Avery. A. Calder. B. & Iacobucci. D. (1998). New media interactive advertising vs. traditional advertising. Journal of Advertising Research, 38 (4), pp.2332.

68

International Journal of Management

4. Clevenger,T.J. (1991). Cannot Communicate a Conflict of Models Communication Studies, 42 (251). 5. Coyle, James E. and Esther Thorson (2001), "The Effects of Progressive Levels

6. Interactivity and Vividness in Web Marketing Sites," Journal of Advertising, 30 (Fall) 7. Hinson, R.A., G. Adika and S. Buatsi, 2004. International Journal of Information Technology 2. (1 & 2) pp.3-4. 8. Heeter, C. (2000). Interactivity in the context of designed experiences. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 1 (1). Retrieved March 13 (2005) from

http://jiad.org/vol1/no1/heeter/ 9. Idowu. A.P. and E. Adagunodo, (2004). A Compartive Study of Information and Communication Technologies at Higher education Institutions in Africa. Journal of Information Technology Impact 4 pp.2-9. 10. Steuer, Jonathan (1992), "Defining Virtual Reality: Dimensions Determining Telepresence," Journal of Communication, 42 (Fall), pp.73-93. 11. Jee, J., & Lee, W.-N. (2002). Antecedents and consequences of perceived interactivity: An exploratory study. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 3 (1). Retrieved March 13, 2005 from http://jiad.org/vol3/no1/jee/index.htm 12. Jensen, J. F. (1999). 'Interactivity': Tracking a new concept in media and communication studies. In P. A. Meyer (Ed.), Computer Media and Communication pp. 160-187. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 13. Laurel, B. (1990). Interface agents: Metaphors with character. In B. Laurel (Ed.), The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design pp. 355-365. Reading, MA: AddisonWesley. 14. Macias, W. (2003). A preliminary structural equation model of comprehension and persuasion of interactive advertising brand Web sites. Journal of Interactive
69

International Journal of Management

Advertising,3(2).Retrieved March 13 (2005) from http://www.jiad.org/vol3/no2/macias/ 15. McMillan, S. J., & Hwang, J.-S. (2002). Measures of perceived interactivity: an exploration of the role of direction of communication, user control, and time in shaping perceptions of interactivity. Journal of Advertising, 31 (3), pp.29-42.

70