Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractSaudi insurers increasingly face demands to analyze huge quantities of underwriting and claims data, but disparate systems may decrease the precision of pricing and the speed of claim settlement, thereby reducing operational efficiency. The purpose of this study is to identify if data warehousing adoption could contribute positively to the underwriting and claims handling operations of insurance companies in Saudi Arabia. The study employed fixed-effect regressions to examine the relationship between data warehousing adoption and underwriting/claims handling operations of insurance companies based on a firm-year fixed-effect panel data set of 2015–2024, including information technology investment intensity interaction terms. The result of this study indicated that data warehousing adoption is positively related to underwriting/claims handling operations of insurance companies, where data warehousing adoption could contribute positively to reducing loss ratio by 4.8 percent (β = –0.048, P < 0.01) and combined ratio by 5.6 percent (β = –0.056, P < 0.01). Data warehousing adoption could also contribute positively to claims handling operations, where average claim settlement time could be reduced by 6.21 days (β = –6.21, P < 0.05). In addition, the data warehousing investment interaction term can provide an additional 3.2 percentage points of improvement (β = –0.032, p < 0.05), implying that data warehousing value can be enhanced by complementary investments in information technology capabilities. Explanatory powers of the model are considerable, with R-squared of 0.41-0.52 for different equations.

Type of the article: Research ArticleAbstractThis study investigates the determinants influencing life insurance demand across 38 OECD countries over the period 2009 to 2022, with the data sourced from OECD Insurance Statistics, the World Bank, and the World Development Indicators (WDI). The purpose is to identify and analyze the determinants that shape life insurance penetration (premiums as a percentage of GDP) and density (premiums per capita), providing a comprehensive understanding of market dynamics. Using panel data, the study employs a dynamic regression model with Panel-Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) to ensure accuracy and reliability, complemented by Pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) for robustness. The findings indicate that economic, demographic, and social factors significantly impact life insurance demand. GDP per capita, poverty rates, and healthcare expenditure to GDP significantly stimulate life insurance demand. Life expectancy positively correlates with insurance penetration, whereas a higher dependency ratio adversely affects it. In contrast, inflation and education expenditure to GDP are found to reduce demand. However, urbanization is found to have no significant influence. The study provides actionable insights for policymakers to design strategies that safeguard consumer interests while promoting market expansion. Furthermore, OECD countries stand out as appealing investment destinations within the stable insurance sector. These findings highlight opportunities for insurance companies to adapt offerings to evolving consumer needs, boosting competitiveness and profitability.AcknowledgmentThe authors gratefully acknowledge Dr. Anup Kumar Saha, Lecturer in Accounting at Keele University, United Kingdom, for his valuable intellectual input and constructive feedback.

The South African non-life insurance sector faces persistent challenges, including low investment returns, the need for digital transformation, and underperformance in meeting strategic goals. These issues threaten operational efficiency and financial health, critical factors for resilience in a competitive market. This study investigates the relationship between operational efficiency, financial health, and resilience in 32 South African non-life insurance companies. A descriptive research design was employed, analyzing panel data from 2008 to 2019, a period chosen due to the financial crisis of 2008, which significantly impacted the insurance industry. Data were sourced from S&P Capital IQ and Refinitiv Eikon, known for providing reliable financial information. Regression analysis was used to examine how liquidity, leverage, and company size influence financial health, with company size analyzed as a moderating factor.The results showed that liquidity and leverage positively impact financial health, with larger companies benefiting more from operational efficiency and profitability improvements. However, the effect of liquidity decreases as company size increases. The model demonstrated strong explanatory power (R² = 0.8662) and was statistically significant (Wald Chi² = 611.92, p < 0.01). These findings offer actionable insights for industry stakeholders and policymakers, emphasizing the importance of tailored strategies to enhance resilience and sustainable growth across companies of varying sizes. Addressing operational inefficiencies and financial health can strengthen the industry’s capacity to navigate future challenges.

Indonesia’s insurance sector faces governance challenges, including low market penetration, financial instability, and declining public trust. This study examines the impact of Good Corporate Governance (GCG) mechanisms, including the Independent Board of Commissioners, Board of Directors, Audit Committee, and Institutional Ownership, along with Firm Size, on profitability, measured by Return on Equity (ROE). Using multiple linear regression, the study analyzes 240 financial reports from 15 publicly listed Indonesian insurance firms (2020–2023). The findings indicate that most governance mechanisms, including the Independent Board of Commissioners, Audit Committee, and Institutional Ownership, do not significantly affect profitability. However, the Board of Directors negatively influences business performance, suggesting potential inefficiencies or governance constraints. Conversely, Firm Size positively affects profitability, highlighting the advantage of economies of scale. This suggests that structural governance alone is insufficient for profitability without accompanying firm-level strategic advantages. These outcomes imply that Indonesian insurance firms may be over-relying on compliance-based governance without leveraging it for performance gains. Strengthening the strategic capabilities of governance actors could turn oversight mechanisms into profitability drivers. AcknowledgmentsThe research team would like to thank Universitas Multimedia Nusantara for supporting this study. 

The growing technological disruption in the modern era has redefined the existing business processes. As a result, being strategically aligned while allocating proper resources is pivotal for any business. This study focuses on managers’ digital capability in conjunction with strategic alignment and resource availability in Jordanian insurance companies. Data were gathered via a questionnaire and covered 304 administrative employees from 16 licensed insurance companies in Jordan, processed through a cross-sectional survey. The analysis using SmartPLS (4) was conducted to verify the relationships between strategic alignment, resource allocation, and digital capabilities. The analysis showed a significant positive correlation between strategic alignment and overall digital capabilities, with a path coefficient of 0.710 and an R2 of 0.953. Likewise, resource availability positively correlated with the increase in overall digital capabilities, with a path coefficient of 0.685 and an R2 of 0.888 for available resources. In cases where resource increases were observed, strategic alignments were also observed where the strategy increased digital capabilities through improved resource allocation parameters. This additional corroborative evidence was supplied with a path coefficient of 0.680 and an R2 of 0.910. It is reasonable to hypothesize that organizations with favorable resource management practices will be more successful in harnessing strategic alignment to fill the gaps in digital competencies. Therefore, the study proposes that insurance companies should design better resource allocation policies coupled with more effective staff training to take full advantage of digital transformations. These steps are necessary to gain and maintain a competitive advantage in the ever-changing and turbulent insurance industry. Acknowledgment The authors are grateful to Middle East University, Amman, Jordan, for the financial support to cover this article's publishing fee.

The integration of insurance technology with e-commerce in Saudi Arabia is a key driver of financial and technological advancement, aligning with Vision 2030, the national strategy for economic diversification and digital transformation. This study examines the technological factors influencing this integration, assessing both enablers and barriers, including application programming interfaces, artificial intelligence, real-time risk assessment, cybersecurity, outdated infrastructure, and regulatory alignment. A quantitative approach was employed, gathering data from 253 professionals in Saudi Arabia’s insurance and e-commerce sectors, including financial managers handling underwriting and investment, compliance officers ensuring regulatory compliance, information technology specialists overseeing system integration and cybersecurity, and policymakers shaping industry regulations. Structural equation modeling revealed that application programming interfaces (β = 0.78, p = 0.020), artificial intelligence (β = 0.70, p = 0.025), and real-time risk assessment (β = 0.62, p = 0.030) significantly facilitate integration, while cybersecurity vulnerabilities (β = 0.57, p = 0.035), outdated infrastructure (β = 0.54, p = 0.040), and regulatory misalignment (β = 0.57, p = 0.035) pose major barriers. Additionally, government incentives (β = 0.51, p = 0.040) and workforce expertise (β = 0.49, p = 0.035) influence adoption outcomes. The findings highlight the need for regulatory harmonization, enhanced cybersecurity, financial support, and workforce training to facilitate seamless integration and ensure the long-term sustainability of insurance technology in Saudi Arabia’s evolving digital economy.

This study seeks to establish the influence of the Big Five personality traits, which include Openness, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Extraversion, on growers’ willingness to embrace crop insurance schemes. Furthermore, it explores the role of Attitude, Subjective Norms, and Perceived Behavioral Control, as proposed in the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), on this relationship. Using a structured questionnaire, data were collected from 412 growers of arecanut and pepper. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) via Smart-PLS 3.3. The analysis revealed that Perceived Behavioral Control (β = 0.462**), Subjective Norms (β = 0.260**), and Attitude (β = 0.115**) positively influenced growers’ behavioral intentions. Interestingly, the Big Five personality traits themselves did not have a direct effect on these intentions. Further mediation analysis demonstrated that Attitude and Subjective Norms fully mediated the effects of Extraversion (α = 0.026**, β = 0.069), Neuroticism (α = 0.019**, β = –0.016), and Openness (α = 0.024**, β = 0.069) on Behavioral Intention. However, these variables did not mediate the relationship between Agreeableness (α = 0.011, β = 0.058), Conscientiousness (α = –0.017, β = –0.080), and Behavioral Intention. Additionally, perceived behavioral control mediated the link between personality traits and intention, though this was not the case for Conscientiousness. This study contributes to the application of the TPB by incorporating the Big Five personality traits and exploring their interaction with the TPB dimensions.

The insurance industry, which is an important component of the financial channel, is an essential part of the Turkish economy, and assessing the financial performance is critical for insurance companies to improve efficiency and productivity, increase competitiveness, and enhance fiscal health. The study presented a technique for assessing the financial performance of all insurance companies registered in Borsa Istanbul by implementing an integrated method that combines the Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) and Proximity Indexed Value (PIV) methods. The rationale for implementing the PIV method is the lack of adequate financial studies available on the insurance companies that employed this specific model. Initially, 18 evaluation criteria were defined. The CRITIC method was applied for the criteria weights, and insurance companies were ranked using PIV. Subsequently, the COPRAS, VIKOR, ARAS, and SAW Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methodologies were applied. Performance rankings derived from PIV were compared with those obtained from other MCDM models employed. Finally, Spearman’s Rank Correlation and Kendall’s Rank Correlation Coefficient methods were applied to analyze the extent of correlations and interactions between ranking outcomes. The PIV assessment results pointed out that AGESA received the highest rank for financial performance, and AKGRT had the lowest rank. AGESA consistently received high rankings compared to all other methods examined. Nevertheless, RAYSG and AKGRT constantly ranked poorly. All deployed methods ranked AKGRT and RAYSG in the final two positions. The study’s findings underscore that ranking outcomes of PIV largely align with alternate MCDM methodologies utilized.

This research paper examines the correlation between underwriting profit factors and the overall profitability of publicly traded general insurance companies operating in South Africa. The study analyzed a sample of 36 insurers, considering their quantifiable markets and accessible financial data from 2008 to 2019. Employing signal correlation analysis, the investigation explored the associations between various financial indicators and Return on Assets (ROA). The results revealed negative correlations between ROA and the logarithms of total investment (TI), shareholder funds (SF), and underwriting profits (UWP), with correlation coefficients of –0.4500, –0.3365, and –0.4050, respectively. These findings indicate that as TI, SF, and UWP increase, there is a tendency for ROA to decrease for general insurance companies in South Africa. Furthermore, a positive relationship was observed between the earning-asset ratio and ROA. This suggests that as the earning-asset ratio rises, the ROA of general insurance firms in South Africa tends to improve, indicating a potentially favorable impact on profitability. The significant findings of this study emphasize the importance of prioritizing effective risk management practices within insurance firms. By implementing these measures, such as minimizing the likelihood of claims and ensuring accurate reflection of assumed risks in premium charges, insurance companies can maintain positive underwriting profit. This, in turn, has the potential to enhance their overall profitability.

The factors of the insurance industry’s business performance are of concern to a variety of participants in any economy, such as the government, politicians, policyholders, and speculators. There has been very little research on this issue in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the majority focusing on specific factors that influence the performance of insurance businesses. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate the influence of leverage and liquidity on financial performance of general insurance companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study used descriptive correlational techniques to obtain panel data across 113 general insurers operating in Sub-Saharan Africa as of December 31, 2019, for 11 years (2008–2019). The pooled OLS, fixed effects and random effects models were estimated with the financial performance measures (proxied by ROA) as the dependent variables where the Hausman test was employed to test the hypothesis. The study found that there is a negative negligible link between leverage and financial performance, whereas there is a positive association between liquidity and financial performance. The study suggested that proper liquidity management is critical for insurance businesses to enhance a company’s value as well as financial success. The focus should be on establishing a proper asset-liability mix, in which a company’s total liabilities do not exceed its total assets. Furthermore, organizations require cash flow policy recommendations to optimize profit potential while limiting liquidity risk in the financial statement.