Actuarial Science-Scholarly Publications

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    Open Access
    Beyond Philanthropy: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Nigerian Insurance Industry
    (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2008) Obalola, M.A
    Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that given the dearth of literature on how firms in the African continent have embraced and practiced corporate social responsibility (CSR), this study contributes to the CSR literature by examining managers' perceptions about CSR, structural changes to enhance, its implementation, and the pattern of current CSR actions in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – The study used quantitative approach and collected primary data through a three‐part structured questionnaire, from insurance firms operating in Nigeria. The 67 responses received were analysed descriptively and the results presented. Findings – The overall results indicate a strong support for social responsibility and the translation of this support into action through involvement in some community based projects. Evidence from the study also suggests that social responsibility is still largely perceived as a philanthropic gesture. Research limitations/implications – The study only covers insurance firms operating in Lagos state. Furthermore, only one response represents the view of a firm, hence the need to exercise caution in generalizing the results. Practical implications – Since the results suggest the readiness of the Nigerian insurance firms to go beyond the traditional view of profit and shareholders' wealth maximization, there must be a consistency between this posture and their actions. Originality/value – The study provides an insight into perceptions about corporate social responsibility in the insurance industry, in a developing country and in Africa, which to the best knowledge of the author, have not been done before.
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    Open Access
    Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility in the Insurance: views from Developing Countries
    (Knowledge Globalisation Institute and Sawyer Business School, 2008) Obalola, M.A
    The convoluted nature of insurance, like any other financial services, makes insurance business vulnerable to ethical dilemma, thus requiring managers to show high level of socially responsible behavior in dealing with prospects and existing customers. However, before managers' behavior can become ethical and reflect greater social responsibility, they must first perceive ethics and social responsibility to be important for organizational effectiveness. This study therefore examines the perceptions of insurance managers in Nigeria, using the PRESOR scale, about the role of ethics and social responsibility in business success. The moderation effects of personal and situational factors were also examined. The dimensionality of the scale was determined for the study' samples through principal component analysis (PCA) and its reliability were assessed. Results of the analysis were presented and discussed, with managerial implications.
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    Open Access
    An Empirical Examination of Moral Beliefs of the Nigerian Insurance Managers and the Moderating Effects of Corporate Ethical Values and some Demographic Factors
    (2010) Obalola, M.A
    Insurance like most financial services is a complex system of interfaces and exchanges, requiring prospects to rely heavily on the technical information supplied by sales persons to make crucial decisions of long term consequences. Even at this, insurance companies are sometimes compelled by court's interpretation of certain clauses, terms and condition and rulings to fulfil promises made at the inception of policies. The vulnerability of insurance sales persons and practitioners to ethical abuse has grievous implications for insurance industry worldwide and there's a need to examine the ethical values of its managers. This study explores the effects of perceived corporate ethical climate on the moral beliefs of managers in the industry, as well as managerial differences in these two measures on certain demographic variables. The results obtained are presented and discussed with managerial implications.
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    Open Access
    Measuring the Perceived Importance of Ethics in Social Responsibility in Insurance Business: a Narrative-Inductive Approach
    (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2012) Obalola, M.A; Adelopo, I.A
    Purpose – This paper aims to reflect the argument that the impetus to engage in socially responsible actions is ultimately reinforced by the perceived belief that doing so will be beneficial to the corporation in the long run. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a narrative‐inductive approach to make important contributions to the corporate social responsibility‐organizational effectiveness literature. Data were collected through a semi‐structured interview, and analyzed using qualitative analysis strategies. Findings – The study reports a profound perceived usefulness of ethics and social responsibility for business in the insurance industry in Nigeria. Furthermore, the study presents evidence that indicates that consciousness about the role of ethics and social responsibility in organizational effectiveness in this context is low, but, nevertheless suggests a positive posture towards the constructs. This positive posture seems to have been driven by the negative image of the industry and the need to remedy the situation. It suggests that this can be achieved through a show of genuine concern for the needs of the consumers, and the need to reinforce their trust and confidence in insurance as a loss mitigating mechanism. Practical implications – While shareholders' value maximization was shown as one of the considerations for ethical and social responsible behavior compromise, findings from the study also suggest that stakeholders' value maximization would be an effective consideration for the industry to improve the present low market penetration. The paper draws out the need to amend short‐term goals for long‐term goals by sacrificing short‐term profits for long‐term profits and survival. Originality/value – Although the strategic importance of ethics and social responsibility has been investigated using the deductive approach in other industries, this work provides an alternative to this existing bulk of positivist investigations by using an inductive approach with subjects drawn from the insurance industry. The study also seems to the authors' knowledge, the first to investigate the strategic importance of this construct in a developing and apathetic market such as Nigeria.
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    Open Access
    Determinants of Web-accessibility of Corporate Social Responsibility Communications
    (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2012) Adelopo, I; Moure, R.C; Preciado, L.V; Obalola, M.A
    The corporate social responsibility (CSR) debate has developed tremendously over decades. However, while CSR communication has developed significantly, web‐accessibility of CSR communications is under researched. The purpose of this paper is to examine how firms make their CSR communications accessible to their stakeholders on the internet. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used number of “clicks” to download CSR communication of a firm to measure its accessibility. Independent mean test showed that CSR communications by high impact sectors are more accessible on the internet than low impact sectors, but web‐accessibility is not affected by country. Findings – Although CSR research has grown tremendously over the decades, the discourse has been largely restricted to disclosures in the annual reports and, lately, to the standalone sustainability reports. In addition, they have mainly examined the management's motives for disclosures, using legitimacy theory as the most influential theoretical underpinning. Only very few studies have examined CSR communication on the internet and even these studies have only researched the content of the disclosure, examining the quality and quality of disclosures. Originality/value – The originality of this paper lies in its consideration of the effect of firms' CSR communications on the recipients. While CSR communication has developed significantly, web‐accessibility of CSR communications remains under researched.