Twentieth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations

Abstract

This paper investigates the natural disaster insurance gap in emerging Asia-Pacific economies, exploring the factors behind, the impact of and offering solutions to, underinsurance. Being the most underinsured region in the world, but also being at the highest risk of natural disaster, threatens the economic development and social wellbeing of the Asia-Pacific region, especially with disasters becoming more frequent and intense than ever before due to climate change. The study uncovers various driving factors of the insurance gap such as affordability, availability, awareness, risk appetite and charity hazard theory. Natural disasters are also found to have negative economic and social impacts on emerging economies, both short and long-term. Research involved three semi-structured interviews with experts in the topic area, each with specialist knowledge of underinsurance causalities, natural disaster impact and insurance gap solutions, respectively. The findings identify a clear necessity for insurers to make coverage more affordable for poor and lower-middle income individuals by embracing industry innovations. Furthermore, governmental responsibility is highlighted in supporting the development of risk transfer mechanisms, potentially fostering a collaborative public-private partnership approach. From an economic and social perspective, this research offers government, business and individuals exploratory avenues for growth and development.