What Drives High-Quality Insurance Advice? An Analysis of Intermediary and Contextual Factors
What Drives High-Quality Insurance Advice? An Analysis of Intermediary and Contextual Factors

Summary/Abstract: Unsuitable insurance advice can turn protection into a costly mismatch, but the determinants of high-quality recommendations remain insufficiently understood. This paper uses survey data from 4,827 insurance intermediaries across 13 European countries to investigate the factors associated with insurance advice quality. Using a vignette-based design, we analyse advice quality in standardised client scenarios based on the accuracy of the initial product recommendation and the alignment of product rankings with a normative benchmark. Our findings suggest that professional training increases the quality of advice in simple insurance advisory scenarios, but not in complex scenarios. The use of digital tools is associated with higher-quality advice mainly when combined with higher levels of education, indicating that digitalisation may complement, rather than substitute for professional expertise. Furthermore, self-confidence and signalling, do not necessarily associate with higher advice quality, particularly in more demanding advisory scenarios. Overall, the results show that the determinants of insurance advice quality are context-dependent and vary with the complexity of the advisory task.

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