The Influence Of Demand Determinants And Regulatiory Policies On Uptake Of Life Assurance Products Among Public Primary School Teachers In Kisumu County,Kenya

Abstract

One cannot overstate the importance of Life Assurance products' use in the world. In general, Life Assurance offers two main elements in society: protection and savings. However, low insurance penetration in Kenya has led to overstretched support systems. The symptoms of low uptake of Life Assurance policies in Kenya are manifested in members of the Kenyan population resorting to informal ways of risk management especially in cases of premature deaths of household bread winners. This study's objective was to ascertain how demand factors and regulatory regulations affected public elementary school teachers in Kisumu County, Kenya's adoption of life insurance products. The Human Life Value theory served as the study's foundation, and the Prospect and Expected Utility theories provided support. The particular goals of the study were to determine how regulatory policies modulated the effects of socioeconomic, institutional, distribution channel, and cultural factors on the uptake of life insurance products. The study was quantitative in character and using a descriptive survey technique. A representative sample of 537 respondents—calculated using the Taro Yamane (1970) formula—was chosen using the stratified random selection approach from a study population consisting of 6376 public primary school teachers in Kisumu County. The Lawshe approach was used to determine the content validity ratio (CVR), which was used to verify the content validity of each item. The Cronbach alpha coefficient () test was used to assess the questionnaire's reliability, and a score of at least 0.7 indicated the dependability of the data. 10% of the sample, or 54 questionnaires, from six public primary schools in Kakamega County were used in a pilot study. descriptive statistics, like standard deviation and mean, variance, Percentages and frequency distribution were utilised to examine the gathered data. The study employed basic, multivariate, and hierarchical regression for inferential statistics in order to establish the proposed causal relationships. Pearson correlation was used to assess the degree of relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The results show that demand factors and policyholders' adoption of Life Assurance products in Kisumu County were significantly correlated, with demand factors by themselves accounting for 52% of the variation in Life Assurance product uptake. Similarly, among public primary school teachers in Kisumu County, Kenya, regulatory regulations had a 5.9% influence on the link between demand factors and the uptake of Life Assurance products. According to the study's findings, public primary school teachers in Kisumu County, Kenya, are more likely to use Life Assurance products when socioeconomic, institutional, distribution channel, and cultural factors are present. Additionally, the relationship between demand factors and the acceptance of life insurance products is positively and significantly impacted by regulatory rules. The study suggests that managers working in the insurance industry should be aware that regulatory regulations need to align with the overarching business strategy in order to boost the adoption of Life Assurance products. A qualitative research design with more variables might be considered for future studies.