Personality Traits and Performance of Salespersons among Insurance Companies in Nigeria
Personality Traits and Performance of Salespersons among Insurance Companies in Nigeria

Summary/Abstract: The supervisory authority and the industry executives have expressed concerns over the low insurance uptake in Nigeria in spite of the importance of that subsector in any economy. Over the years, most studies conducted on the sales of insurance products in Nigeria and many other African countries have concentrated on the effects of customer’s socio-economic and demographic factors while the effects of salesperson’s characteristics have not been given serious attention. This study investigated the ways a salesperson’s personality traits could impact on his effectiveness in selling insurance products in Nigerian. Traits theories including those of Carl Jung, Duckworth, Five Factor theory and HEXACO were briefly discussed but the work is essentially on the five-factor personality traits. The survey data obtained were analyzed to disaggregate the specific effects of each factor on the productivity of insurance salespersons. Data were obtained from 125 sales managers across insurance companies via a structured questionnaire and we tested the five formulated propositions with least square method. Among the five attributes examined, the most important determinants of salesperson’s productivity are his openness to experience and his emotional stability. It is recommended that insurance executives, in their recruitment exercise, should give consideration to the individuals who are dynamic in creativity, highly imaginative and high in emotional stability.

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