International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 5; [Special Issue -March 2011] 259 The Effects of Personality Factors on Sales Performance of Takaful (Islamic Insurance) Agents in Malaysia Fauzilah bt Salleh Lecturer Faculty of Business Management & Accountancy Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Gong Badak Campus 21300 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu Malaysia E-mail: fauzilah@unisza.edu.my Abdul Razak bin Kamaruddin Department of Technology Management, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Lebuhraya Tun Razak 26300 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia E-mail: abrazak@ump.edu.my Abstract Salesperson of insurance industry is considered as a role player in marketing and selling its products. However, salespersons only contribute to a small growth for the industry which is 6.3% in terms of assets of the insurance industry in Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of personality attributes in determining the sales performance of Takaful (Islamic insurance) agents. Three personality dimensions were used, i.e., self- efficacy, self-monitoring and locus of control and how these factors are related to sales performance. Using a stratified random sampling, a sample of 289 respondents was selected to participate in the study. Two of the three personality dimensions were found to be positively related to sales performance, i.e. self-efficacy and self- monitoring, while locus of control was found to be inversely related to sales performance. As a conclusion, this research shown that Takaful sales agents with high self-efficacy and self-monitoring attributes perform better in their sales performance. Marketing implications were then discussed with specific reference to the aspects of marketing strategies of Takaful products. Keywords: personality, sales performance, Takaful (Islamic insurance); marketing Introduction Malaysian insurance industry is considered as a growing industry with significant progress and continues to play an important socio-economic role within the economy. Based on the annual report of Bank Negara Malaysia (2007), the industry is a major investor in corporate and debt securities with over RM100 billion and annual premiums generated by the industry are in excess of RM23 billion in 2006. The market penetration, that is, the number of policies in force as a ratio of the total population, has more than 50% increased to 48.5% from 28% over a decade ago. Simultaneously, the growth has been underpinned by a transformation of the industry in terms of the distribution systems, product diversity, sophistication of business models and practices, and the state-of- the- art technological advances. With the track record and structural changes in the environment that occurs, the prospect for sustained growth continues going forward. Insurance products not only providing basic insurance protection to individuals and corporations, but also present as an alternative for individuals to expand the breadth of financial planning. This includes solutions for financing their retirement needs, medical expenses and children's education, as well as solutions that enhance their investment income. As for Takaful industry or Islamic insurance, a praiseworthy track record of the industry has been recorded since its inception more than two decades ago. For the first half of the year 2007, the total assets of the Takaful funds stood at RM7.6 billion which denotes 6.3% of the entire Takaful and insurance industry funds assets and an increase of 11% as compared to the end of 2006 (Bank Negara, 2007). In terms of net contributions, RM1.2 billion was recorded in the first half of 2006, an increase of 36% from the same period of 2005. The reason of the creditable track record by Takaful industry is because of growth of various components in the Islamic financial system especially the Islamic banking sector and the Islamic capital market that results in a growing local demand for Takaful products.