Applying grey models in categorical data -environmental stimuli, policyholder’s characteristics and purchase decision of unit linked insurance

Unit linked insurance is a form of insurance where the policyholder bears the investment risk. The purchasing behavior of unit linked insurance follows the general model of purchasing behavior. The purchase decision here denotes only, whether to buy unit linked insurance or not. We select four environmental stimuli, i.e., changes of life stage, scourge, accident and depression, as explanatory variables. The consumerspsila characteristics include cultural, social, individual and psychological factors. All these variables belong to categorical data. By applying GM(1,N) and GM(0,N) this study figure out the relationships between policyholderpsilas characteristics, 4 specific environmental stimuli and their purchase decision of unit linked insurance. At the same time, we illustrate the applicability of GM(1,N) and GM(0,N) to the categorical data.