Issue #1 (Volume 16 2025)

The study evaluates the influence of digital marketing on the reputation of insurance companies in Jordan, guided by the mediating role of service quality and the moderating role of brand trust. This is a relevant topic because digital engagement has become increasingly important in shaping consumer perceptions and building brand reputation in the insurance industry. The purpose is to determine how digital marketing practices influence organizational reputation through service quality. A quantitative research design was adopted with data collected from 237 employees of 21 insurance companies in Jordan. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with partial least squares. The results indicate that digital marketing significantly improves the reputation of insurance companies. The findings demonstrated that service quality serves as a crucial mediator, as an improvement in service quality leads to an increase in customer satisfaction and loyalty, thereby enhancing a company’s reputation. Further, brand trust moderated the relationship of digital marketing with reputation, thereby indicating that reputational benefits from digital marketing are further enhanced in firms characterized by high brand trust. These findings highlight the importance of insurance firms implementing digital marketing-driven initiatives to improve service quality and build brand trust. This study has practical value in terms of guiding insurance companies in using digital marketing to build their reputation in a competitive market.

Trends offer direction and momentum. However, trends in mortality are affected by trend breaks, which are a consequence of mortality shocks. Additionally, insufficient historical data challenge the credibility of the forecasted trends, which are useful for actuaries in pricing, reserving, and valuing life insurance products. To address these challenges, the study aims to determine and incorporate trend breaks among individual causes of death and coherently forecast them by applying the bottom-up hierarchical forecasting approach for life insurance models. The models used are categorized as base (linear model), auto-statistical (Arima, Exponential-Smoothing, and Prophet), and auto-machine learning. The data from the World Health Organization consisted of annualized mortality quantities by cause, gender, age, and period for Kenya. Results based on the mean absolute percentage error criteria across the causes of death showed that all the models apart from the base model showed significant improvement after accounting for the trend breaks with the best being the auto machine learning approach leading with seven causes of death. Updating forecasts based on the computed trend breakpoints that varied between 2007 to 2011 generally improved forecast accuracy. These results suggest that forecasting errors may be reduced after accounting for trend breaks and model specifications. Furthermore, this implies that insufficient data do not necessarily produce deficient forecasts. The study’s contribution involved applying approaches that enhance the accuracy of forecasting models to prevent adverse effects of mortality shocks in actuarial modeling.

The significance of companies’ readiness for digital transformation is becoming more widely recognized. This study, focusing on insurance companies in Jordan, aims to investigate the impact of organizational readiness on digital transformation. The study participants were staff members from various departments and administrative levels within the insurance companies, and the study population included all insurance companies in Jordan. This study uses convenience sampling to gather the required data by distributing an online questionnaire of 39 questions. A total of 245 valid responses were received and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results of the study prove that change valence positively influences digital transformation. The results also show that change efficacy, incorporating resource, IT, and cognitive readiness, positively affect digital transformation. Moreover, the results confirm that contextual factors incorporating cultural, strategic, and partnership readiness positively impact digital transformation. Further, employees’ work experience moderates the relationships between organizational readiness constructs and digital transformation. These results indicate that the insurance companies in Jordan should implement a comprehensive approach that encompasses an organizational rehabilitation strategy.

Digital transformation is critical in driving competitive success, particularly in Indonesia’s life insurance industry, which faces challenges in adopting effective digital strategies to address operational inefficiencies and declining customer engagement. This study aims to investigate the mediating role of Digital Enablement in the relationship between Market Orientation, Transformational Leadership, and Life Insurance Performance in Indonesia. A quantitative design was employed, using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with SmartPLS to analyze data collected from a census of 54 senior executives from life insurance companies in Indonesia, gathered through structured questionnaires. The findings reveal that both Market Orientation and Transformational Leadership significantly foster Digital Enablement, which, in turn, enhances Life Insurance Performance. However, the direct effects of Market Orientation and Transformational Leadership on Life Insurance Performance were found to be insignificant, emphasizing the critical role of Digital Enablement as a mediator. While Market Orientation and Transformational Leadership contribute to Digital Enablement, their impact on performance outcomes is mainly indirect, reinforcing the role of digital tools in improving operational efficiency, customer engagement, and business growth.

Non-life insurance has grown in developing countries over the past decade, despite challenges and large differences in premiums across Arab countries. This study investigates the effect of cultural factors on non-life insurance spending in Arab countries using panel data covering the period from 2010 to 2023. Eight independent variables were employed. They are uncertainty avoidance, individualism, power distance, masculinity, long-term orientation, indulgence, income per capita and interest rate. The results of the study prove that uncertainty avoidance positively influences spending on non-life insurance. The results also show that Arab societies with pragmatic and masculine traits prefer to spend a lot of money on purchasing non-life insurance. However, the results confirm that cultural factors incorporating individualism, power distance, and indulgence negatively impact non-life insurance. Further, the interest rate also negatively affects non-life insurance. In contrast, income per capita has an insignificant impact. These results indicate that insurance companies working in Arab countries should consider those significant factors to improve the quality of insurance services that encompass non-life insurance contracts.

The integration of insurance technology with e-commerce in Saudi Arabia is a key driver of financial and technological advancement, aligning with Vision 2030, the national strategy for economic diversification and digital transformation. This study examines the technological factors influencing this integration, assessing both enablers and barriers, including application programming interfaces, artificial intelligence, real-time risk assessment, cybersecurity, outdated infrastructure, and regulatory alignment. A quantitative approach was employed, gathering data from 253 professionals in Saudi Arabia’s insurance and e-commerce sectors, including financial managers handling underwriting and investment, compliance officers ensuring regulatory compliance, information technology specialists overseeing system integration and cybersecurity, and policymakers shaping industry regulations. Structural equation modeling revealed that application programming interfaces (β = 0.78, p = 0.020), artificial intelligence (β = 0.70, p = 0.025), and real-time risk assessment (β = 0.62, p = 0.030) significantly facilitate integration, while cybersecurity vulnerabilities (β = 0.57, p = 0.035), outdated infrastructure (β = 0.54, p = 0.040), and regulatory misalignment (β = 0.57, p = 0.035) pose major barriers. Additionally, government incentives (β = 0.51, p = 0.040) and workforce expertise (β = 0.49, p = 0.035) influence adoption outcomes. The findings highlight the need for regulatory harmonization, enhanced cybersecurity, financial support, and workforce training to facilitate seamless integration and ensure the long-term sustainability of insurance technology in Saudi Arabia’s evolving digital economy.