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Personality Traits and Performance of Salespersons among Insurance Companies in Nigeria

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  • Sunday Adekunle Aduloju

Abstract

The supervisory authority and the industry executives have expressed concerns over the low insurance uptake in Nigeria in spite of the importance of that subsector in any economy. Over the years, most studies conducted on the sales of insurance products in Nigeria and many other African countries have concentrated on the effects of customer’s socio-economic and demographic factors while the effects of salesperson’s characteristics have not been given serious attention. This study investigated the ways a salesperson’s personality traits could impact on his effectiveness in selling insurance products in Nigerian. Traits theories including those of Carl Jung, Duckworth, Five Factor theory and HEXACO were briefly discussed but the work is essentially on the five-factor personality traits. The survey data obtained were analyzed to disaggregate the specific effects of each factor on the productivity of insurance salespersons. Data were obtained from 125 sales managers across insurance companies via a structured questionnaire and we tested the five formulated propositions with least square method. Among the five attributes examined, the most important determinants of salesperson’s productivity are his openness to experience and his emotional stability. It is recommended that insurance executives, in their recruitment exercise, should give consideration to the individuals who are dynamic in creativity, highly imaginative and high in emotional stability.

Suggested Citation

  • Sunday Adekunle Aduloju, 2020. "Personality Traits and Performance of Salespersons among Insurance Companies in Nigeria," Academic Journal of Economic Studies, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 6(3), pages 127-138, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:khe:scajes:v:6:y:2020:i:3:p:127-138
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    5. Christiane Nieß & Hannes Zacher, 2015. "Openness to Experience as a Predictor and Outcome of Upward Job Changes into Managerial and Professional Positions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-22, June.
    6. Gloria A. Fofie, 2016. "What Influence Customer Patronage of Insurance Policies: An Empirical Assessment of Socio-Economic and Demographic Determinants of Insurance Patronage in Ghana," International Review of Management and Marketing, Econjournals, vol. 6(1), pages 81-88.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Five Factor Model; Salesman’s Personality; Insurance; Sales performance; Nigeria;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L1 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance
    • M3 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising
    • M5 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics

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