Exploring trust and communication between insurers, arborists, and homeowners

Abstract

To better address increasing risks related to climate change, insurance companies are continually changing their underwriting requirements and, in this process, trees have come under intense scrutiny. The processes that the insurance industry uses to assess, mitigate, and communicate tree-related risks are not well-understood by the public or tree care professionals. Yet, preliminary evidence in the North American news media and elsewhere suggests insurance companies’ increasing impact on homeowners’ decisions thereby threatening the environmental benefits produced by the urban forest. Our research employed qualitative interviews with insurance agents and arborists in the Southeastern United States. Drawing on risk communication theory, our research objective was to better understand the emerging phenomenon of insurers’ influence on homeowners’ yard tree choices. To this end, we explored the factors behind tree-related determinations by insurance companies and responses of the tree care industry. Results showed that agents act as the insurance underwriters’ mediators to build trust with their customers and overcome the obstacles that changing underwriting and organizational processes have influenced. Several arborists, as well as insurance agents, expressed being open to building better professional relationships despite disillusionment with the insurance industry. This study extends risk communication theory into the arboricultural and insurance industries as current theories have focused mainly on health and environmental disciplines. This approach helps to inform risk communication practices to build trust with customers, agents, and arborists, and to encourage greater use of arboricultural standard practices when determining climate-smart tree-related risk determination.