Purchasing insurance – the roles of individual differences in time perspectives and regulatory foci

ABSTRACT Objective The present studies focused on the role of time perspectives (TPs) and regulatory foci (promotion and prevention) in explaining people’s purchases of car, accident, home, life, and travel insurance. Method Two correlational studies on nationwide Polish samples (N = 1,093 and N = 1,047) were conducted. Results The first study showed that, after controlling for age and sex, higher levels of Future TP and lower levels of Past Negative TP were related to the propensity to make voluntary purchases of car, life, home, and accident insurance. Higher levels of Present Hedonistic TP and lower levels of Present Fatalistic TP were related to the propensity to buy travel insurance. The second study identified significant positive roles of both promotion and prevention regulatory foci in explaining people’s possession of all five types of insurance considered. Conclusions TPs (mainly Future and Past Negative) and regulatory foci (promotion and prevention) seem to be important in explaining people’s insurance-related behaviours. KEY POINTS What is already known about the topic? Insurance decisions are influenced by many psychological variables, e.g., social norms, previous personal experience, emotions and cognitive biases and heuristics Future time oriented individuals focus on future consequences of today decisions and have a greater propensity to save and to invest money Prevention focused individuals try to avoid the negative consequences of unexpected event, so they prefer to invest in financial tools which are characterized by minimal risk What this topic adds? People declaring possession of car, life, home and accident insurance policies were characterized by lower levels of past negative TP and higher levels of future TP than those not possessing such policies Individuals declaring possession of all types of insurance (life, accident, car, home, and travel) were more prevention oriented than those not having such insurance Individuals declaring possession of all types of insurance (life, accident, car, home, and travel) were more promotion oriented than those not having such insurance