Dichotomy of the impacts of perceived quality and perceived value on the brand positioning of insurance companies

This research is aligned with the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which includes strengthening the capacity of insurers to "provide insurance services for all".The brand positioning (BP) operationalization has been ambiguous, inconsistent and under-applied.A literature review identified the lack of knowledge regarding the impact of consumer-perceived quality on insurers' BP as a research gap.A multi-theoretical lens was operationalized to explore consumer-perceived quality in the formation of insurers' BP.In terms of methodology, a quantitative study was conducted using a questionnaire that was applied to 700 insurance consumers in Portugal between 2023 December and 2024 February.Consumers were asked about their perception of brand attributes defined in the literature as "perceived quality" and "perceived value".Using PLS-SEM, it was possible to analyze and validate that "perceived quality" has a positive and significant effect on the insurance companies' BP, in contrary to the "perceived value" of brands.Using NVIVO, it was possible to identify the most relevant attributes for consumers in terms of perceived quality of insurance companies: "good policy coverage", "quick service", "efficient customer service" and "variety of insurance offers".It can be concluded that if insurance companies focus their investments and efforts on the attributes most valued by consumers in terms of perceived quality, they will be able to detect and reduce any dangerous gaps between the intended BP by insurers and the perceived BP by consumers