1. International Journal of Management IJM
Volume 1 • Issue 1 • May 2010 • pp. 59 - 70
http://iaeme.com/ijm.html ©IAEME
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
Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, India
2
Reader, Department of Business Administration, Annamalai University, Chidambaram, India

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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 country’s 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
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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.
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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 Educational level
factors
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
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Information communication technology is a powerful devices in the digital era. Table
1 explains the rural consumer’s 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 Occupation level
factors
Pvt/Govt.
Agriculture Business F P
Employee
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
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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 Income level
factors
Above
Up to 5000 5000-10000 F P
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 respondent’s 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
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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 N Mean SD t Sig
< 35 Years 38 3.5263 .9792
Awareness 0.573 .569
> 35 Years 23 3.3913 .7223
< 35 Years 38 4.6316 .9421
Interest 3.464* .001
> 35 Years 23 3.6957 1.1455
< 35 Years 38 4.0263 1.1965
Evaluation 0.64 .948
> 35 Years 23 4.0435 .8779
< 35 Years 38 3.7368 .9208
Trial 0.316 .753
> 35 Years 23 3.6522 1.1524
< 35 Years 38 3.8684 1.1191
Adoption 0.302 .764
> 35 Years 23 3.7826 .9980
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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 N Mean SD t Sig
Govt Orgn Policy 45 3.4444 .8409
Awareness 0.454 .651
Pvt Orgn Policy 16 3.5625 1.0308
Govt Orgn Policy 45 4.2889 1.1205
Interest 0.119 .906
Pvt Orgn Policy 16 4.2500 1.1255
Evaluation Govt Orgn Policy 45 4.1111 1.1124 0.948 .346
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Pvt Orgn Policy 16 3.8125 .9811
Govt Orgn Policy 45 3.3111 45
Trial -6.787 0.00
Pvt Orgn Policy 16 4.8125 16
Govt Orgn Policy 45 3.4444 .7247
Adoption -6.076 0.00
Pvt Orgn Policy 16 4.9375 1.1236
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.
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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.
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