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Health insurance can be an effective tool of personal protection. But India’s health insurance market still lags behind the other countries in terms of penetration. The present article identified the role of perceptions in the enrolment of health insurance among the urban informal sector of Punjab, India. First, data were obtained from the urban informal sector of Punjab. Then factor analysis was applied to identify the perceptions associated with enrolment of health insurance. After this, logistic regression was performed to determine the associations of identified perceptions with enrolment of health insurance. The present study identified 12 perceptions factors associated with health insurance enrolment of the informal sector in India. Out of the 12 factors, the logistic regression results proved that 8 were statistically significant influencers of health insurance enrolment decisions. The significant perceptions factors were lack of awareness about the need to buy health insurance; comprehensive coverage; income constraint; future contingencies and social obligations; lack of information; availability of subsidized government health care; linkage with government hospitals; and preference for government schemes. It was found that perceptions play a vital role in the household decisions to enrol for health insurance. Policy makers or marketers of health insurance policies should recognize the household perceptions as a potential barrier and try to develop a health insurance package as per the actual needs of the informal sector (low income) in India.

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With the technological advancement, shopping behaviour among the young consumers undergone a paradigm shift. Online shopping has made the market available at a single touch of customer. The aim of the present article is to identify the determinants of online purchase intention among young consumers. A structured questionnaire based survey was performed in the state of Punjab, with a multi-stage stratified random sample of 200 respondents. The analysis was made with the help of descriptive statistics and Probit regression. The analysis of the Probit regression identified age, convenience and ease of quality comparison are positively affecting online shopping among youngsters. On the other hand, personal privacy, risk in giving card details and tangibility of product act as a barrier in online purchase intention among young consumers of Punjab. Online sellers should focus on these factors in order to target young consumers.

Health insurance could play a vital role to improve the health status in a country. But penetration of health insurance is very low in India. Therefore, present study endeavours to examine the awareness of health insurance, sources of awareness and determinants of awareness among workers employed in urban informal sector of Punjab. For the analysis three group of informal sector workers (construction workers, vendors and shopkeepers) have been identified from the three urban districts of Punjab, namely, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. The analysis was made with the help of descriptive statistics and multivariate probit regression. The analysis shows a significant difference in the awareness of health insurance across the occupational groups. The multivariate probit regression shows that age, education, religion, type of family, occupation, income, BPL card, experience of outpatient care, inpatient care and awareness of the insurance were the significant determinants of awareness of health insurance. In order to increase the penetration of health insurance the government, policy makers and the marketers of health insurance should make people aware about the potential benefits of health insurance policies. It is recommended to understand the awareness and perceptions of the people towards health and develop a package that is accessible, available, affordable and acceptable among informal sector of the society.

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PurposeAccessibility to a precise tool for healthcare management and self-precaution among diabetic patients is an absolute necessity. This paper aims to develop and validate diabetes-related awareness instrument (DRAI) – an instrument that measures diabetics awareness about risk factors and prevention strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe reliability and validity of the DRAI were tested with a sample of 112 diabetics. The construct validity of the DRAI was measured using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Item discrimination, reliability, usefulness and validity of the items were determined by performing Cronbach's alpha, item difficulty and discrimination index analysis.FindingsThe study finds DRAI – a reliable and valid instrument to assess diabetics awareness towards diabetes mellitus, its associated risk factors and prevention strategies. The value of Cronbach's alpha for all three constructs was above the threshold level of 0.70. Under exploratory factor analysis, “Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin” test value of 0.805 exhibits a meritorious sample adequacy and “Bartlet's test of Sphericity” was statistically significant with p = 0.032. Therefore, results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed that all fitness indices of the model to be excellent fit.Practical implicationsThe present instrument can help to determine whether the individual is susceptible to diabetes, timely prevention and reduction in the incidence of diabetes mellitus.Originality/valueDRAI is the first of its kind tool to assess the awareness and knowledge about diabetes-related risk factors and prevention strategies in such a demographically diverse population of India.

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