An empirical examination of moral beliefs of the Nigerian insurance managers and the moderating effects of corporate ethical values and some demographic factors

Abstract

Insurance like most financial services is a complex system of interfaces and exchanges, requiring prospects to rely heavily on the technical information supplied by sales persons to make crucial decisions of long term consequences. Even at this, insurance companies are sometimes compelled by court's interpretation of certain clauses, terms and condition and rulings to fulfil promises made at the inception of policies. The vulnerability of insurance sales persons and practitioners to ethical abuse has grievous implications for insurance industry worldwide and there's a need to examine the ethical values of its managers. This study explores the effects of perceived corporate ethical climate on the moral beliefs of managers in the industry, as well as managerial differences in these two measures on certain demographic variables. The results obtained are presented and discussed with managerial implications.Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Obalola, M. (2010) 'An empirical examination of moral beliefs of the Nigerian insurance managers and the moderating effects of corporate ethical values and some demographic factors', Int.

Predicting Bangladeshi financial salespeople ' s ethical intentions and behaviour using the theory of planned behaviour

“…However, financial products are also complex which can disadvantage consumers in developing countries especially if they have lower levels of financial sophistication or financial literacy (Cole and Fernando, 2008;Cole et al, 2009;Kefela, 2010;Xu and Zia, 2013). As a result, the consumers are frequently ill-equipped to fully appreciate their rights and responsibilities when purchasing financial products (Kefela, 2010;Obalola, 2010). Research has also suggested that the commission compensation system used in the insurance industry can create an agency problem (Kurland, 1991), as the salespeople's personal interests are in conflict with the customers' interests.…”

“…through generating higher sales) are greater. It is, therefore, not surprising that ethical issues arise when selling financial products in developing countries (Bhatt and Tang, 2001;Kefela, 2010;Obalola, 2010). In practical terms, it may also mean that poorer consumers in developing countries are paying with their already limited financial resources for products that do not adequately meet their needs, which, in turn, increases their financial vulnerability (Amin et al, 2003).…”

“…Often there is also less governmental regulation of financial service products, which means policing of sales activities in developing countries is less likely to occur (Obalola and Adelopo, 2012). There is some research on ethical practices within the banking and insurance industries (Cupach and Carson, 2002;Dunfee and Gunther, 1999;Hejase et al, 2013;Smith, 2010), but little examines the selling of insurance in developing countries (Al-Shaikh, 2003;Andaleeb and Anwar, 1996;Cooper and Dorfman, 2003;Obalola, 2010;Wood, 1995a). While business and sales ethics are important globally (Donoho et al, 2001), researchers have found there are generally more ethical business problems in developing countries (Akhter et al, 2009;Al-Khatib et al, 2004;Cuervo-Cazurral and Genc, 2008;Obalola and Adelopo, 2012).…”

“…This situation increases the importance of insurance goods for consumers in developing countries, while, at the same time, makes developing country consumers vulnerable to ethical abuses (i.e. firms have a greater ability to take advantage of consumers) (Andaleeb and Anwar, 1996;Obalola, 2010). To understand the drivers of insurance salespeople's ethical behaviour, we use Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behaviour (TPB).…”

The mediating effect of perceived ethical climate on organizational commitment, trust and turnover intention interactions: a research on insurance sector

“…Apart from banks, brokers and other financial institutions; insurance sector continues to be the most distinct employment field that have a great share in the financial markets in the country (Karabay, 2015, 152). However, despite the growing interest in the literature, there are very few researches on insurance sector (Obalola, 2010;Ampofo et al, 2011;Ogunrinde, 1985). Investigating the insurance sector employees' perceptions of ethical climate of their companies could have a great importance to solve the ethical problems and improve the quality level of the insurance services.…”