Customer Trust In The Digital Era: The Role Of Transparency And Accountability In Insurance Services

Abstract

Digital transformation has changed the way the insurance industry operates and interacts with customers. Digitization of services brings efficiency and ease of access, but also poses new challenges related to transparency, accountability, and customer trust. This study aims to analyze the influence of service digitization on customer trust with transparency and accountability as mediation variables. The research method employed an explanatory quantitative approach with 101 respondents who are digital insurance customers in Indonesia. The data was analyzed using Partial Least Squares–Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with the help of SmartPLS 4. The results of the study show that the digitization of services has a positive and significant effect on customer accountability and trust, and accountability plays a role as a partial mediating variable in this relationship. Meanwhile, the transparency variable does not meet the criteria of convergent validity, so it is excluded from the empirical model, although it is still maintained in theoretical discussions. These findings confirm that customer trust in the digital era is built not only through technological innovation but also through the company's responsibility and integrity in providing accountable digital services. Theoretically, this study expands the literature on digital trust governance by emphasizing that accountability is the core of digital trust formation. In practical terms, the study's results provide recommendations for insurers and regulators to strengthen digital accountability systems, ensuring that technological transformation aligns with the principles of ethics, transparency, and fairness for customers.