To sell or not to sell: the insurance agents’ attitude toward high-risk customers

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of role ambiguity, norms of reciprocity and ethical policy on the insurance agents’ attitude and intention toward selling insurance to high-risk customers. Design/methodology/approach - This study employed partial least squares regression analyses to test the hypothesized relationships in the conceptual model. To ensure that the questionnaires captured the concept as intended, customer risk status and the level of insurance premium were mentioned literally in the scenario. Findings - The findings indicated that the insurance agents’ attitude toward high-risk customers has a significant association with the insurance agents’ behavioral intention. Norms of reciprocity and ethical policy have a significant relationship with the attitude and intention. Originality/value - High-risk customers may want to buy more insurance. In this case, an adverse selection problem could occur when the insurers lack customer information prior to the insurance transaction. The insurance agents are important marketing channels in the insurance industry. They seek out new customers, gather customer information, and are expected to act in the best interest of the customers. Yet, the insurance agents’ attitude toward high-risk customers is seldom mentioned in the studies on insurance marketing and regulation. This research may make some contributions to the relevant literature because there are few studies in this field.