Serving the Poor through Micro Insurance: A Systematic Review of Literature

Abstract

Micro insurance is an approach to serve low-income earners who are quite vulnerable to various risks in the economy. As a result, this paper aimed to systematically review extant micro insurance research and make suggestions for further research based on identified gaps. The study adopted the Systematic Quantitative Assessment Techniques (SQAT) in identifying and analyzing 36 English peer-reviewed journal articles on micro insurance from nine high quality academic databases: Emerald, Elsevier, Springer, Sage, Taylor and Francis, Cambridge, Oxford, MIT and Wiley. The study revealed that most of the articles focused on micro health insurance as well as discussing the general prospects of micro insurance. Most of the articles were empirical in nature, with majority of the studies adopting no theoretical underpinning; the few articles that had theoretical foundations utilized the expected utility theory and prospects theory. A large number of the reviewed studies were conducted in Asia and Africa, whilst none were conducted in Australasia and South America, with surveys and interviews being the most prominent research methods. The significant contribution of this study is that it is a new addition to the micro insurance field, offering insights as to the context of extant micro insurance scholarship, as well as identifying research gaps for future researchers to explore.