我國互聯網互助保障平臺發展研究 ─ 以“康愛公社”為例

Abstract

Internet mutual assistance is a further development of mutual insurance under the background of the Internet. With the prevalence of the Internet and third-party mobile payment, especially the increasing use of mobile payment applications such as “Alipay” in Chinese residents’ daily life, a large number of Internet mutual assistance platforms such as “Kang’ai Commune” have emerged. The number of users of mutual assistance platforms has continued to grow, and the industry has grown bigger and stronger. Thus, Internet mutual assistance has become a unique form of mutual insurance that exists only in China, which complements traditional insurance forms such as commercial insurance, social insurance and medical insurance, having great potential in improving China's social insurance system and residents' welfare. At the same time, the regulatory authorities such as the China Insurance Regulatory Commission also paid great attention to the Internet mutual assistance industry, issuing corresponding rules and regulations to give guidance on the supervision and development of mutual insurance organizations. Based on the flourish of the Internet mutual assistance industry and the attention from the regulatory authorities, this paper studies the development of China's Internet mutual assistance platform, and takes "Kangai Commune" as an example to analyze the development status and potential market of the industry. This paper aims to provide useful suggestions for the future development of the Internet mutual assistance platforms and the supervision of the industry by regulators, and to provide reference for scholars' future research on the Internet mutual assistance guarantee platform as well.

Since Internet mutual assistance is a new form of insurance that originated in China recently, scholars have paid little attention to it. The literature on the mutual insurance industry and crowdfunding model in Western literature provides a theoretical foundation for us to study the Internet mutual assistance platform. Related topic includes the adverse selection and moral hazard issues involved in mutual insurance (Smith and Stutzer, 1995; Guinnane and Streb, 2011), the characteristics of mutual insurance (Bainbridge, 1952; Hansmann, 1985) and the background of the crowdfunding model. Domestic scholars mostly discuss the development process of the Internet mutual assistance platforms with normative research methods (Sun Rui, 2016; Yi Hui and Hao Yan, 2016; Wang Jing and Huang Zhiyong, 2017), few study discuss the development of China's Internet mutual assistance platform combined with empirical evidence.

The paper studies the development of China’s Internet mutual assistance platforms from three aspects. First, based on the user information and survey data from users of "Kangai Commune", the earliest Internet mutual assistance platform in China, this article analyzes the user group characteristics of the Internet mutual assistance platform. Secondly, making use of the evidence from a survey of residents' willingness to participate in the Internet mutual assistance, we further analyze the willingness of Chinese residents to participate in Internet mutual assistance and its influencing factors, which help us clarify the characteristics of potential users in the industry. In addition, based on their comparison on the characteristics of existing users and potential users, we furtherly propose the possible future development direction of the Internet mutual assistance industry.Finally, this paper analyzes the operation mode of the Internet mutual assistance platform. By summarizing and evaluating the operation mode of the Internet mutual assistance platform, this paper summarizes the characteristics, advantages and potential defects of the operation model of Internet mutual assistance platforms.

Based on the above research and analysis, the main findings of this paper are as follows. First, this paper finds that the users of the Internet mutual assistance platforms are mainly middle-aged, low- and middle-income groups with strong insurance awareness in economically developed areas. From the user data of “Kang’ai Commune”, the typical platform of the Internet mutual insurance industry, this paper finds that most of the users in the mutual insurance industry live in urban areas with higher economic development, women are slightly more than men, and their ages are mainly distributed over 40 years old. In terms of occupation, education and income, the freelancers in the user group are the most, with the primary and secondary education level as the mainstay, and more than 85% of the users have a monthly income of less than 5,000 CNY. At the same time, the existing users are in good health condition, and have a good sense of exercising, health and insurance.

Second, the paper finds that residents’ willingness to participate in Internet mutual assistance platforms is influenced by a series of factors such as Internet usage habits and insurance concepts and awareness. Specifically, the level of economic development and the type of residence significantly affect residents' Internet usage habits. The more frequently they use the social networking platforms such as WeChat and the more they trust mobile payment, the more they tend to participate in Internet mutual assistance platforms. In addition, the residents’ awareness and insurance demand are affected by factors such as age, income, education level and the level of social insurance and medical insurance. When the social insurance and medical insurance system provide limited protection, the higher the level of income and education and the older the residents, the stronger their insurance awareness and insurance needs, and thus they are more willing to participate in Internet mutual assistance platforms. However, when the protection from the social insurance and medical insurance is high, the residents are less willing to participate in the Internet mutual assistance platforms, regardless of their age, income or other personal characteristics.

Third, with the special operating model of pooling users through the platform to form a mutual assistance group, Internet mutual assistance platforms achieve effective mutual assistance among platform members, and play a role of charity as well. Thanks to the special operating model, the Internet mutual assistance platforms have higher operating efficiency than traditional insurance companies do, and effectively reduce insurance costs, which in turn lowers the insurance entry threshold and enables more people with insurance needs to afford it. At the same time, the Internet mutual assistance platform has broken down the geographical and time restrictions and almost all the processions can be carried out online, which makes the claim timeline can be controlled well. In addition, the Internet mutual assistance platforms are more transparent than traditional insurance companies, and the members have more interactions. Naturally, members’ loyalty to the organization is also higher in Internet mutual assistance platforms. Howerer, we also need to realize that Internet mutual assistance platforms also face some new types of risk, such as insufficient ability to withstand risk, fund unsafety, false reporting, and inadequate audits. Therefore, the government need to carry out more regulatory work in a planned manner in the future.

The possible contributions of this article are as follows. First, the Internet mutual assistance industry is a new development of the insurance industry under the background of the Internet, and it is an emerging industry that has appeared in recent years. Based on the analysis of the development history, current conditions and operating models of “Kang’ai Commune”, the earliest Internet mutual insurance platform in China, we get a better understanding of the whole industry. In addition, this paper can help scholars and industry practitioners make better judgments on the future development and potential impacts of the industry.

Secondly, based on the analysis of the user groups in the Internet mutual insurance industry, we have deepened our understanding of Internet mutual assistance products, which is more conducive to clarifying the market position and potential customers of Internet mutual insurance products. Moreover, it can also help industry practitioners to develop new products and make market expansion based on more accurate market position, increase insurance participation and coverage, and reduce overall social risk.

Finally, based on the unique survey data, this paper empirically tests the main factors affecting residents' willingness to participate in Internet mutual assistance platforms, provides a basis for further expansion and development of the industry, and extends the literature on the willingness of residents to purchase insurance.

Date of Award	27 Aug 2020
Original language	Chinese (Traditional)
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Chak Sham Michael WONG (Supervisor) & Changjiang LYU (External Supervisor)