Exploring Consumer Opportunism Conundrum in the Insurance Industry: The Role of Marketing

Drawing from the extant literature, this paper explores the prevalent consumer opportunism
in the insurance transactions, its links to consumers’ perception, and the relevance of
marketing strategies in curbing the menace. It shows that insurance opportunism could be
perpetrated by any party in the insurance transaction system and at any stage of the process
involved. Among factors identified as prompting this conundrum are economic motive,
resentment towards the insurance companies, laxity in the application processing/asymmetric
information, and insiders’ collaborations. Nonetheless, the paper suggests that strong
commitment of insurance marketers to creating and delivering value to the customers more
robustly through a proactive and all-embracing implementation of marketing strategies vis-àvis
relationship marketing could significantly enhance consumers’ positive perception of
insurance business and consequently result in a healthier insurance industry.