Unsure and underinsured
Exploring flood insurance decision-making and uptake behaviours via community engagement with flood-prone households
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22028673 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Peter Kamstra (0000-0003-3934-1403, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author), Jens Oliver Zinn (0000-0002-4992-9123, The University of Melbourne), N M Harrigan (0000-0001-5092-1180, Macquarie University), Nicholas Harrigan (Macquarie University), Brian Cook (0000-0002-5618-1395, The University of Melbourne) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 142 |
| Pages | 106237 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2212-4209 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2026.106237 |
| OpenAlex | W7163051298 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 75 |
Climate change and development within floodplains are expanding flood risk zones and increasing the number of households that are underinsured. Although flood insurance is core to disaster preparedness, how flood-prone households navigate flood insurance decisions remains poorly understood. This study explores how households make decisions about flood insurance coverage within contexts shaped by engagement, renewal cycles, rezoning, and insurer practices, rather than assuming a linear progression from awareness-to-behaviour pathways. Longitudinal data were collected through initial survey-interview engagements with 982 households in flood-prone areas of Melbourne, Australia and 641 follow-up engagements conducted four to six months later. Inductive analysis of follow-ups found that seven percent of participants (n = 42) reported a change in flood insurance decision-making. Change outcomes are reported as either a cognitive reassessment of insurance coverage (n = 11 or 2%) or a behaviour (n = 31 participants or 4%) in the form opting out of flood coverage (n = 2 or <1%), checking flood coverage (n = 20; 3%) or increasing flood coverage (n = 9 or 1%). Across cases, insurance decisions were shaped by conflicting flood risk assessments, rezoning without prior engagement, affordability constraints, and limited guidance on what constitutes adequate coverage. The findings indicate that insurance-related outcomes described by participants were not typically framed in terms of disengagement or poor risk awareness, but rather in relation to perceived uncertainties within flood risk governance and insurance systems. These observations highlight the potential value of early engagement processes that support interpretation, learning, and decision-making in increasingly uncertain flood risk environments
Climate change · Corporate governance · Flood insurance · Flood mitigation · Flood myth · Floodplain · Risk Governance · Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration · Disaster Management and Resilience · Flood Risk Assessment and Management
A Review of Risk Perceptions and Other Factors that Influence Flood Mitigation Behavior
On Critical Reflection
Affect, risk, and decision making.
Global projections of river flood risk in a warmer world
Longitudinal linkages between perceived social support and posttraumatic stress symptoms
The Demand for Flood Insurance
Normative learning generates behaviour change
Shifting risks back to the state? Flood insurance and responsibility in the face of climate change in Australia
Who purchases flood insurance, and why? Evidence from the Hudson valley
The effect of risk perception on the willingness to purchase hazard insurance—A case study in the Three Gorges Reservoir region, China
The spillover effects from participatory research
The mixed blessing of shifting responsibilities
The Meaning of ‘Build Back Better’
Place attachment, identification and environment perception
Profiteering from Disaster
Insurance Issues as Secondary Stressors Following Flooding in Rural Australia—A Mixed Methods Study
Willingness of homeowners to mitigate climate risk through insurance
Is there a trade-off between households’ precautions, mitigations and public protection for flood risk
Normalised insurance losses from Australian natural disasters
Methodological Innovation in Studying Abortion in Developing Countries
The attitude towards flood insurance purchase when respondents' preferences are uncertain
Rationalization, enchantment, and subjectivation – lessons for risk communication from a New Phenomenology of everyday reasoning
Unpacking Protection Motivation Theory
Learning for resilience-based management
Flood insurance arrangements in the European Union for future flood risk under climate and socioeconomic change
Incentivising flood risk adaptation through risk based insurance premiums
Critical insurance studies
Beyond the knowledge deficit
When disaster strikes
The likelihood of having flood insurance increases with social expectations
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Geographies of resilience
Bushfire and everyday life
Insurance as maladaptation
Flooded homes, broken bonds, the meaning of home, psychological processes and their impact on psychological health in a disaster
The geographies of community disaster resilience
The Anticipated Emotional Consequences of Adaptive Behaviour-Impacts on the Take-up of Household Flood-Protection Measures
Disaster risk reduction and 'built-in' resilience
| Highly cited | No |
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