dc.description.abstract | This study had one objective, which was to identify the factors that are important in influencing
the University of Nairobi academic staff in their purchase of a life assurance policy. To do this, a
survey was conducted on 93 academic staff members of the University of Nairobi using
structured questionnaires with both close and open-ended questions. The data collected was
presented using tables.
The most important factors that influenced the purchase of life insurance to both the persons with
and without life assurance policies were spouses, children, attitude towards insurance, perception
towards insurance, amount of premium, reputation of the company, fast handling of claims,
quality of customer service, benefits offered on maturity, other non-life insurance covers, and
lifestyle while the least important factors were the societal or tribal norms, advertisement and
members of the religion.
The main factors used in the study were cross tabulated with the following variables namely,
age, income groups, education level, designation, marital status, gender, number of children and
colleges of the respondents. The results of the tabulations were that amount of premium,
reputation of the company, fast handling of claims and quality of customer service were the most
important factors. These factors were in relation to the activities of the insurance companies.
The least important factors again were the societal or tribal norms, advertisement and members
of the religion.
The major difference that was noted between those who had life assurance policies and those
who did not have was that those who did not have would be most influenced to purchase the
same by the reputation of the company. There is opportunity for further research especially on
other factors that can pressure decisions regarding the purchase of life assurance than the ones I
came up with. Additional study can also be done on other reference groups and their influence on
the life assurance purchase places and comparisons made. A correlated study could be carried
out on organizations providing'tbe life assurance to identify the factors they think influence the
purchase of life assurance. | en |