Customers’ attitudes toward insurance frauds: an application of Adams’ equity theory

Purpose – Although research on insurance frauds has found that deductible amount influences customers’ attitudes toward insurance frauds, very little work has further investigated the roles of deductible-premium ratios and insurance experiences. Building on the foundations of Adams' equity theory, the authors examined the impact of the deductible-premium ratios on customers' attitudes toward insurance frauds. The authors also studied the relationship among the experience of applying claims, the reasons customers accept insurance frauds, and customers' intentions to carry out frauds. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Survey was used, and the sample of this study comes from the full-time civil servants at the Agricultural Research Institutes in Taiwan. Findings – The results showed that the deductible-premium ratios may relate to the responders’ perceptions of insurance frauds. In addition, the reasons customers accept frauds were also the influential predictors of the customer frauds. Originality/value – Previous studies found that an unfair treatment by an insurer (e.g. an unfair deductible amount) may enhance customer insurance frauds. However, the “fairness and fraud” problems should involve the consideration of insurance premium because a high deductible amount is usually associated with lower premium. The other discussions of perceived fairness also accept that perceived fairness was often rooted in a social comparative situation. Based on the literature gap, this is the first time that Adams’ equity theory is applied in the customer insurance fraud research.