Examining the investment operations as a derived core function of mutual insurance companies: Research agenda and guide

Abstract

In addition to their core of risk financing services for individuals and organizations, insurers act as significant institutional investors. Notwithstanding, research on mutuals has thus far focused more on the insuring side of operations and investigations of the investment operations have remained limited. This article aims to outline a future research agenda for studying mutuals as institutional investors. This is achieved by conceptually discussing two themes – (1) mutual insurers’ investment behaviours (i.e., how mutuals invest) and (2) the mechanisms that shape the behaviors (i.e., why mutuals invest the way they do). The two main themes are further divided into five sub-themes that, on the one hand, include factual investment allocations and targets as well as investment strategies and disclosures. Mechanism-related sub-themes, on the other hand, contain managerial influence, customer-owner influence, and societal factors.