Individual Factors that Predict Customer-Orientation Behaviour of Malaysian Life Insurance Agents

The topic of customer-orientation has increasingly attracted interest in both academic marketing research and practice. One major factor which has been increasingly discussed as an important driver of a salespeople’s customer-orientation is individual factor. In this study we examine the influence of three individual factors; namely, organizational commitment, self-monitoring and intrinsic motivation on salespeople customer-orientation behaviour. Data gathered from 445 life insurance agents were used to test the hypothesized relationship. The results suggest that organizational commitment and intrinsic motivation positively influence salespeople to perform customer-orientation behaviour in their selling activities. Self-monitoring however, was found to be unrelated to the adoption of customer-orientation behaviour. The academic and managerial implications of these findings are then discussed. ABSTRAK Topik berkenaan orientasi pelanggan telah menarik perhatian para pengkaji dalam bidang pemasaran mahupun pengamal pemasaran. Salah satu faktor utama yang sering dikaitkan sebagai peramal kepada tingkahlaku berorientasikan pelanggan di kalangan jurujual adalah faktor individu. Dalam kajian ini, kami mengkaji pengaruh tiga faktor individu iaitu komitmen terhadap organisasi, kawalan diri dan motivasi dalaman. Data yang diperolehi daripada 445 orang agen insurans sepenuh masa digunakan untuk menguji hipotesis kajian. Analisa yang dibuat mendapati bahawa komitmen terhadap organisasi dan motivasi dalaman mempunyai kesan yang signifikan dalam mempengaruhi tingkahlaku berorientasikan pelanggan di kalangan jurujual insurans. Walau bagaimanapun, kawalan diri didapati tidak mempunyai sebarang hubungan dengan tingkahlaku berorientasikan pelanggan. Implikasi dapatan kajian terhadap bidang akademik dan pengurusan dibincangkan