The perception of life insurance agents by the public

• Main Authors: Chan, Mike Hong Keong, Kong, Yew Wah, Lee, Jiunn Woei
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55585
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Life insurance agents have always been perceived to be suffering from an image problem. In Singapore, a social stigma is attached to the role of a life agent. Many studies on how the general public view life insurance agents have initiated in the past. However, no research has been conducted on why individuals perceive life insurance agents as they do. We engaged in this study with the following objectives: a. to provide an objective assessment ofthe public's perception of life insurance agents; b. to distinguish and explain the variables which account for the variance in the public's perception of life insurance agents; c. to recommend if any ways to eradicate the public's apathy towards life insurance agents. We conducted our study with a survey on 200 individuals from the public and a series of interviews with agency managers from the life insurance industry. The team found that a majority of the public perceives life agents unfavourably. The results of the multiple regression analysis revealed that 78 .5% ofthe variance in the perception oflife agents can be significantly explained by eleven independent variables. Thus, the team came to the conclusion that the solution to the image problem of life agents rests in the treatment of the eleven variables. Based on the conclusion, the team recommends to place more importance on after sale service, participation in community activities and active promotion of life insurance products.