Pet humanisation impact on insurance purchase intentions: A novel predictive model integrating health beliefs and planned behaviour

This study investigates pet health insurance purchase intentions in Southern Thailand by integrating the Health Belief Model (HBM) and Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Analysing 421 owners, the research identifies a profound sociocultural shift toward “pet humanisation” (79.1%), where ownership duration exceeding six years (P = 0.0053) is the primary demographic driver. Comparative analysis shows that the “pet humanisation” group exhibits significantly higher purchase intentions (P = 0.0374) and benefit recognition (P = 0.0012) than traditional owners. The integrated HBM-TPB model significantly outperforms. Multiple linear regression confirms the integrated framework’s superior predictive efficacy for purchase intention (R2 = 0.9230), highlighting the synergy between personal beliefs and subjective norms. Furthermore, simple linear regression demonstrates that while “subjective norms” drives traditional owners, “benefit recognition” leads the humanisation cohort. Despite high psychological readiness, a 64.8% potential market opportunity remains due to perceived barriers. The study concludes that leveraging veterinarians as “cues to action” and focusing on emotional branding are essential to converting latent intent into policy ownership.