CONTRIBUTION OF SUSTAINABLE INSURANCE FOR ACHIEVING SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Abstract

In recent years, the concepts of sustainable insurance are being launched by various financial institutions to transform the insurance industries into an economic system which can benefit the society in terms of environmental, social and governance. The study aims to understand the driving factors for customer’s intentions to adopt or use sustainable insurance. The objectives of the study are to examine the perception of common people about insurance sector and insurance companies from an emerging economy like India and to understand the awareness of sustainable insurance among them. In doing so, the present study investigated further for understanding the role of sustainable insurance in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A questionnaire based survey was carried out on stakeholders of insurance companies in Davangere and Chitradurga in Karnataka, India. Structural Equation Modelling analysis technique was used to test a hypothesized model in which perception on insurance, perception on insurance company and awareness of insurance significantly influence the intention of customers to adopt and use sustainable insurance and it further influence to achieve the sustainable development goals 2030. The model fits well with the data and good predictive accuracy and positive relationship can be concluded based on the model fit indices. The  study, demonstrates that the socio-psychological factors such as perception of customer regarding insurance and insurance industry dominantly influence insurance buying intention among customers. The outcome of this study can be used as a reference to the policy makers and insurance companies to come up with more sustainable insurance product.