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National culture and risk-taking: evidence from the insurance industry

National culture and risk-taking: evidence from the insurance industry
National culture and risk-taking: evidence from the insurance industry
The gravity of insurance within the financial sector is constantly increasing. Reasonably, after the events of the recent financial turmoil, the domain of research that examines the factors driving the risk-taking of this industry has been signified. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the interplay between national culture and risk of insurance firms. We quantify the cultural overtones, measuring national culture considering the dimensions outlined by the Hofstede model and risk-taking using the ‘Z-score’. In a sample consisting of 801 life and non-life insurance firms operating across 42 countries over the period 2007- 2016, we find a strong and significant relationship among insurance firms’ risk-taking and cultural characteristics, such as individualism, uncertainty avoidance and power distance. Results remain robust to a variety of firm and country-specific controls, alternative measures of risk, sample specifications and tests designed to alleviate endogeneity.
0148-2963
104-116
Gaganis, Chrysovalantis
a66db976-d7d1-4a85-8057-d2cde46f0d33
Hasan, Iftekhar
c13f965e-f6fb-4a1b-af48-e7cb8340f3d0
Papadimitri, Panagiota
b7edf14e-3b00-4317-a6ce-8741b593d5b0
Tasiou, Menelaos
e402686d-dbf2-48d5-aba8-da9b4ad3701f
Gaganis, Chrysovalantis
a66db976-d7d1-4a85-8057-d2cde46f0d33
Hasan, Iftekhar
c13f965e-f6fb-4a1b-af48-e7cb8340f3d0
Papadimitri, Panagiota
b7edf14e-3b00-4317-a6ce-8741b593d5b0
Tasiou, Menelaos
e402686d-dbf2-48d5-aba8-da9b4ad3701f

Gaganis, Chrysovalantis, Hasan, Iftekhar, Papadimitri, Panagiota and Tasiou, Menelaos (2019) National culture and risk-taking: evidence from the insurance industry. Journal of Business Research, 97, 104-116. (doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.12.037).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The gravity of insurance within the financial sector is constantly increasing. Reasonably, after the events of the recent financial turmoil, the domain of research that examines the factors driving the risk-taking of this industry has been signified. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the interplay between national culture and risk of insurance firms. We quantify the cultural overtones, measuring national culture considering the dimensions outlined by the Hofstede model and risk-taking using the ‘Z-score’. In a sample consisting of 801 life and non-life insurance firms operating across 42 countries over the period 2007- 2016, we find a strong and significant relationship among insurance firms’ risk-taking and cultural characteristics, such as individualism, uncertainty avoidance and power distance. Results remain robust to a variety of firm and country-specific controls, alternative measures of risk, sample specifications and tests designed to alleviate endogeneity.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 9 December 2018
Published date: April 2019

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 469688
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/469688
ISSN: 0148-2963
PURE UUID: 2947601a-3aac-44a4-a99f-c324ba6f8ac5
ORCID for Panagiota Papadimitri: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1857-6097

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Date deposited: 22 Sep 2022 16:37
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:13

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Contributors

Author: Chrysovalantis Gaganis
Author: Iftekhar Hasan
Author: Panagiota Papadimitri ORCID iD
Author: Menelaos Tasiou

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