A study of Maltese amateur athletes’ personality traits, risk behaviour and the uptake of sports insurance

Abstract

This study delves into the willingness of Maltese Amateur Athletes’, their personality traits and risk behaviour to take up sports insurance. To determine the personality traits of the athletes, the author applied and analysed the Big Five personality traits known as conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, extraversion and neuroticism. This dissertation further seeks to examine the position of sports associations and athletics clubs in Malta, and particularly, their perception towards sports insurance. To be able to arrive to the respective conclusions, an online questionnaire was distributed to athletes performing athletics to understand their willingness to take up sports insurance and if not, what impacts their decision. Furthermore, two structured interviews were conducted with an association and a club to collect data relating to their perception towards sports insurance. The questionnaires indicate that athletes who are extrovert, agreeable and conscientious are the most willing to undertake sports insurance policies. However, the majority of the respondents were not aware of the availability of a specific sports insurance policy across the Maltese Islands. The structured interviews, further showed that both the association and the club take insurance policies to cover facilities and equipment, as well as insure their athletes respectively. In conclusion, this enlightens insurance companies as to how the different personalities of athletes affect their willingness to undertake sports insurance coverage. Most importantly, insurance companies are in a better position to decide on what marketing strategies to use when advertising sports insurance policies.