Bluffing in Insurance Sales : A Pakistani Perspective

Sammanfattning: This thesis is a study of aspects of corporate culture that are generally ignored by the researchers. It considers issues like the effect of culture in ethical decision making, ethics in the marketing of insurance products and salespersons’ attitudes and assessment of ethical dilemmas like bluffing. This thesis explores the morality of bluffing in insurance sales while considering Pakistani culture. The word "bluffing" represents a wide range of practices from lying and deception to exaggeration of product features. Philosophers disagree on the morality of bluffing by considering different meanings. This thesis tries to evaluate all the meanings and comes to the idea that bluffing is different from deceptive practices. However, the morality of bluffing is dependent on the industry’s situation, cultural norms and expectations of the customers regarding the salesperson’s role. The practice of bluffing in insurance sales is discussed in this thesis because the insurance industry is perceived as less ethical by customers due to its major fraud cases. Moreover, this thesis tries to show the impact of cultural values in shaping the expectations of a particular behavior from an industry. By taking the example of the Pakistani insurance industry, this thesis tries to evaluate the act of bluffing in that particular culture. It studies the situation and expectations of customers in insurance sales negotiations. The aim of this thesis is to show that it is inappropriate to define bluffing as either moral or immoral, separating it from the situation. While considering the example of Pakistan, this thesis concludes that bluffing is immoral in this particular context.