Key Ethical Issues and Hindrances toEthical Behavior in Insurance Industry : Perceptions of Korean Actuaries

The purpose of this paper is to investigate key ethical issues and hindrances toethical behavior faced by professionals working in Korean insurance industry. Forthis purpose, conducted is a survey of actuaries in a variety of positions ininsurance companies and insurance related institutions. In particular, the findingsare compared to those of American studies to evaluate the level of ethicalperception. Statistical factor analyses are made to make inferences on underlyingconstructs. Actuaries’perceptions of the key ethical issues tend to be restricted toactuarial aspects such as insufficient legal authority to perform professionalservices in an ethical manner and failure to get adequate ethics training program.But some issues arising in marketing are considered significant similar to those theU.S. studies. As a whole, key ethical issues and challenges are not significantlydifferent from the viewpoints of actuaries working in the life and non-life insurancebusiness. Regarding key hindrances to ethical behavior, the 15 factors arepresented such as competitive pressures, performance-based evaluation andunethical demand made by clients. These findings are generally similar to those ofthe U.S. studies.