The link between guanxi and customer–salesperson collusion

Abstract

Purpose In the insurance industry, it is common for the insurance salespeople to sell insurance products to friends, relatives and associates. However, permitting (or encouraging) salespeople to sell insurance through personal relationships may result in some ethical conflicts. For example, some insurance salespeople may help relatives or friends with pre-existing medical conditions buy the health insurance. Previous studies on insurance fraud have rarely focused on this problem. Thus, this study aims to investigate the effects of guanxi (guanxi refers to the durable social connections and relationships a Chinese person uses to exchange favors for a specific purpose) on the salespeople’s acceptance of customer–salesperson collusions. Two types of guanxi are discussed in the research. The author further focuses on how the ethical attitudes and intentions are affected by the salespeople’s guanxi considerations, consequence evaluations, perception of peers’ attitudes, perceived harm to other policyholders and perceived probability of being caught. Design/methodology/approach Full-time life insurance salespeople from Taiwan were surveyed, and partial least squares method was used in the study. Findings The results showed that the types of guanxi, guanxi considerations, consequence evaluations, perception of peers’ attitudes and perceived harm to other policyholders were important in forming the salespeople’s ethical decision-making in the customer–salesperson collusions. Originality/value This is the first time that guanxi has been studied as the factor influencing collusive behaviors in the problems of insurance fraud. The results challenged an established belief that the insurance salespeople should first target close relations as they build their portfolio of customers.

Fourteen years of manifestations and factors of health insurance fraud, 2006–2020: a scoping review

“…In the high-quality category of collaborative environment, the provider-insurer relationship (Lin et al, 2008 ), the consumer-provider relationship (Lin et al, 2008 ), and bosses influence (Tseng & Kang, 2015 ); increased HIF. Also, in the middle-quality category, the consumer-insurer relationship (Manocchia et al, 2012 ), the Guānx i (Tseng, 2016 ), showed influence in increasing the HIF.…”

“… (Manocchia et al, 2012 ) Ethics and morals The health insurance market is not immune to intrapersonal processes such as ethics and the offer of moral risks, which could influence the actors’ positions and their behaviour. (Tseng, 2016 ) (Bourgeon & Picard, 2014 ; Dionne et al, 2009 ; Jou & Hebenton, 2007 ; Kumar et al, 2011 ; Tseng & Kang, 2015 ; Wang, 2014 ; Zhou et al, 2016 ) (Ribeiro et al, 2020 ) (Duszak & Duszak, 2011 ) (Lesch & Baker, 2013 ) Perception of inequity and injustice The relational dynamic produces a perception of injustice or inequity. (Ribeiro et al, 2020 ) (Lesch & Baker, 2013 ) Information asymmetry Asymmetric information occurs when one of the actors does not have the same information, this is reflected in the behaviours adopted by the different actors and their billing processes.…”

“…These connections can be expressed in attitudes, intentions or perceptions. (Tseng, 2016 ) For each study, we denote with a positive sign (+) when the factor increases the HIF, and a negative sign (−) if the factor reduces the HIF; when used a single sign, it indicates that the study proved a theoretical or narrative contribution. A factor can show both signs simultaneously (+−), which means that its influence is ambivalent.…”

“…A total of 10 studies contributed to explaining 6 collaborative factors (see Table 4 ), in which the most referenced factor was the relationship between the provider and the patient, with 3 studies. Relationships between the consumer provider, provider insurer (Lin et al, 2008 ), consumer insurer (Manocchia et al, 2012 ), the influence of bosses (Tseng & Kang, 2015 ) and gGuānxi (Tseng, 2016 ) encourage the increase in HIF.…”

The Influence of Trust and Confidence of Claim Successfulness on Individual Attitude in Committing Motor Insurance Fraud

“…In Malaysia alone, approximately RM1.384 billion claims incurred for the first quarter of 2014 due to authentic and forgery motor insurance claims (KPMG, 2010;PIAM, 2014). Findings from the past studies had shown that trust (Pauline, Esterick-Plasmeijer & Raaij, 2017) and confidence (Mazar, Amir & Ariely, 2008) which are compositions of attitude (Al-Swidi et al, 2014) are significant in determining the intention of a person to commit fraud (Tseng, 2016). Thus, this research aims to study the variables that contribute to an individual's attitude to commit motor insurance fraud.…”