{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/12192"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/12192","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The determinants and impact of short-term business insurance on SMEs in South Africa","abstract":"South Africa is a developing country riddled with high levels of unemployment. SMEs hire more than 50% of the workforce, and therefore adequate protection and support of these firms is crucial. The goal of this research is twofold: Firstly, to identify the determinants of business insurance take-up by SME owners. Secondly, to determine whether business insurance and firm performance are positively and significantly related. A probit model is used to determine the probability of business insurance take-up and a multiple regression is run to identify the effect of business insurance on firm performance. An IV is also run to control for potential endogeneity. Race, funeral and life insurance, education, personal income and size of the firm are key factors determining insurance take-up. Business insurance is found to be positive and statistically significant in both the OLS and IV regressions suggesting that business insurance improves the performance of SMEs.","abstract_html":"South Africa is a developing country riddled with high levels of unemployment. SMEs hire more than 50% of the workforce, and therefore adequate protection and support of these firms is crucial. The goal of this research is twofold: Firstly, to identify the determinants of business insurance take-up by SME owners. Secondly, to determine whether business insurance and firm performance are positively and significantly related. A probit model is used to determine the probability of business insurance take-up and a multiple regression is run to identify the effect of business insurance on firm performance. An IV is also run to control for potential endogeneity. Race, funeral and life insurance, education, personal income and size of the firm are key factors determining insurance take-up. Business insurance is found to be positive and statistically significant in both the OLS and IV regressions suggesting that business insurance improves the performance of SMEs.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Rey, Angelique"],"institution":"School of Economics","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Bhorat, Haroon"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012","date_published":"2012","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:41Z","subjects":[],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12192","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Bhorat, Haroon"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Rey, Angelique"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2015-01-15T08:58:25Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-01-15T08:58:25Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of Economics"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Cape Town"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["MCom"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12192"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Includes abstract.","Includes bibliographical references."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["South Africa is a developing country riddled with high levels of unemployment. SMEs hire more than 50% of the workforce, and therefore adequate protection and support of these firms is crucial. The goal of this research is twofold: Firstly, to identify the determinants of business insurance take-up by SME owners. Secondly, to determine whether business insurance and firm performance are positively and significantly related. A probit model is used to determine the probability of business insurance take-up and a multiple regression is run to identify the effect of business insurance on firm performance. An IV is also run to control for potential endogeneity. Race, funeral and life insurance, education, personal income and size of the firm are key factors determining insurance take-up. Business insurance is found to be positive and statistically significant in both the OLS and IV regressions suggesting that business insurance improves the performance of SMEs."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The determinants and impact of short-term business insurance on SMEs in South Africa"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Bhorat, Haroon"],"dc:creator":["Rey, Angelique"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2015-01-15T08:58:25Z"],"dc:date.available":["2015-01-15T08:58:25Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2012"],"dc:description":["Includes abstract.","Includes bibliographical references."],"dc:description.abstract":["South Africa is a developing country riddled with high levels of unemployment. SMEs hire more than 50% of the workforce, and therefore adequate protection and support of these firms is crucial. The goal of this research is twofold: Firstly, to identify the determinants of business insurance take-up by SME owners. Secondly, to determine whether business insurance and firm performance are positively and significantly related. A probit model is used to determine the probability of business insurance take-up and a multiple regression is run to identify the effect of business insurance on firm performance. An IV is also run to control for potential endogeneity. Race, funeral and life insurance, education, personal income and size of the firm are key factors determining insurance take-up. Business insurance is found to be positive and statistically significant in both the OLS and IV regressions suggesting that business insurance improves the performance of SMEs."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12192"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher.department":["School of Economics"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Cape Town"],"dc:title":["The determinants and impact of short-term business insurance on SMEs in South Africa"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["MCom"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:23:41Z"}