Socio-Cultural Factors Affecting Insurance Patronage in Lagos State, Nigeria: An Exploration Study

• Authors: Fatai Adesina Badru
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Risk occurrence is a phenomenon that affects human lives. Risk avoidance helps individuals to cope with the tragedies of life. Insurance patronage in sub-Saharan Africa (with the exception of South Africa) is abysmally poor. Empirical studies on the impact of sociocultural factors on insurance patronage are slim. Besides, meanings attached to modern insurance concepts such as accident and disasters are culturally constructed. This study, as an exploratory work, investigated some of the socio-cultural variables that shape insurance patronage among Nigerians using Lagos State as a focus. Such variables act as agents of socialization through which people receive the norms and values that shape and modify their attitudes and behavior. The research design was a cross-sectional survey, exploratory in nature, using structured questionnaires to collect primary data. Variables were created for both univariate and bivariate data and analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Findings from the survey suggest that many users of insurance in Lagos understood the language of insurance policies, have positive values and norms, and that their religious persuasions do not impact negatively on insurance patronage. It is thus possible to motivate Lagosians in particular and Nigerians in general to patronize insurance services. Other feasible measures to boost patronage were recommended for practitioners and policy-makers. This study is a platform for broader research in future.

Keywords

EN

insurance; insurance patronage; risk; culture; socio-cultural factors; Nigeria

• Publisher: Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
• Journal: Hemispheres. Studies on Cultures and Societies
• Year: 2013
• Issue: 28
• Pages: 43-57

Contributors

author

Fatai Adesina Badru

• Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos, Lagos