The Retailing of Life Insurance in Nigeria: An Assessment of Consumers’ Attitudes

There is considerable unexploited potential for life insurance in Nigeria, due to the lack of confidence, based on years of negative experiences in the sector. On the other hand, consciousness of Nigerians coupled with the non-existence of social security system is encouraging factors for life insurance growth. A structured questionnaire consisted of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) construct was used and 240 respondents co-operated for this study. The findings show that lack of confidence in the insurance companies had the most negative effect on life insurance purchase. Ignoring risks and reliance on family for help in emergencies are the other main factors preventing purchase. Application of TRA revealed that intention is determined by normative factors rather than the attitudinal factors. The recommendation is that marketers should target marketing communication efforts at the significant others. Key term