Influence of Demographic and Job Related Factors on the Performance of the Life Insurance Advisors in the Kolkata Region

Abstract

It has been accepted by business, academia and practitioners that one of the indispensable resources of any organization is its human resource. Manpower is regarded as a capital investment of an organization and thus the quality of manpower inventory of an organization is the source of value-addition for the system. In the services sector, selection of employees has a unique perspective because of the intangibility of transactions. Recruitment and selection is a critical exercise of any organization because this acts as a foundation on the both short term and long term performance for the business. However, the evaluation metrics for performance differs inter and intra industry and in all sectors. It primarily depends on the need of the business and the nature of transaction expected from its employees. An extensive study of the literature has revealed that demographic variables play a key role in influencing performance of sales employees. This takes a much greater dimension when such sale is that of an intangible service like insurance. The new-age customers have led to the change in the art and science of selling. Rich literature documents the importance of job tenure, functional background, or other job-related variables as well as visible demographic characteristics such as age, race and ethnicity, and gender as important influencers of performance (Frink, et al., 2003). The primary purpose of this study was to determine the influence of selected demographic and job related characteristics on the performance of life insurance advisors of the Kolkata region. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted on 200 life insurance advisors of the Kolkata region and data regarding the demography was captured by administering the instrument. Descriptive statistics have been used to analyze sample profile. Results of this research work may have managerial implications in the insurance industry whereby, the selection process of insurance advisors (direct insurance sellers) may use inferences derived from such studies. HR managers responsible for hiring may undertake a preliminary screening based on the demography and some other job related characteristics of the prospective candidates. Thus the research may be meaningful in a way as it may find its applicability in the life insurance industry where advisors may be chosen from the appropriate cross-section of the targeted population so that they have higher propensity of accomplishing higher levels of performance in the future.