What does insurance purchase behaviour say about risks? A study in the Argentine context with special focus on travel insurance

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the world of insurances as rites of adaptancy and resiliency before risk and disasters. The research on risks, both perceived and real, has become a frequent theme of academic research in the recent past.

Design/methodology/approach

The information given by the superintendencia de Seguros de Buenos Aires involves 100 per cent of the insurances companies of Argentina. The reading of insurance demands corresponds with a new method in the studies of risks.

Findings

Using advanced probability theory and quantitative techniques, risk management researchers have been able to construct sophisticated mathematical-statistical models of risk.

Research limitations/implications

However, the relation between anticipated risks and insurance purchase behaviour has not received sufficient attention. In the present study, starting from the premise that societies may be studied by examining their fears, the authors posit that these fears are represented in the insurance premiums people buy for being protected.

Originality/value

Insurance purchase behaviour at any particular point in time is a measure of what a society considers to be risky at that time and is a key source of information for tourism managers.

Citation

Korstanje, M.E. and George, B.P. (2015), "What does insurance purchase behaviour say about risks? A study in the Argentine context with special focus on travel insurance", International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 289-299. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJDRBE-09-2012-0030