INSTITUTIONAL COMPETENCY MAPPING, FIRMS’ CULTURE AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE AMONG INSURANCE COMPANIES IN KENYA

Abstract

Kenyan insurance companies do constantly face many challenges such as mispricing of insurance policies, lack of the required human resource capacities, and changes in interest rates among others. This study sought to determine the influence of institutional competency mapping on the performance of insurance companies in Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to establish the influence of relationship management, emotional intelligence and innovativeness on the performance of insurance companies in Kenya. In addition, the study sought to determine the moderating influence of firm’s culture on the relationship between institutional competency mapping and performance of insurance companies in Kenya. The study was anchored on competency theory, resource-based view theory, theory of comparative advantage, the balanced score card model and institutional theory. The research philosophy adopted was positivism. Descriptive and correlational research designs were adopted with the study population comprising all the 453 management staff in the 55 registered insurance companies in Kenya as at 28th February 2017. A sample size of 208 participants was drawn from the lower, middle, and the top level management using stratified sampling technique. Primary data was collected via semi-structured questionnaires while secondary data on organisation performance was collected using data collection sheet. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics where the mean and standard deviation were determined. Multiple regression analysis and correlation analysis were used to aid in inferential analysis of the data. Results shows that most Kenyan based insurance firms undertake to map relationship management, emotional intelligence, and innovativeness among their employees during the selection process to a moderate extent. Correlation results shows that there was a significant positive correlation between organisation performance and relationship management (r=0.282; P=0.000), emotional intelligence (r=0.094; P=0.000), innovativeness (r=0.096; P=0.000) and firm’s culture (r=0.840; P=0.000). The regression model results indicated that institutional competency mapping predicted 72.8 percent of the variations in performance of insurance companies in Kenya. Relationship management, emotional intelligence, and innovativeness significantly influenced firm performance. Firm’s culture significantly moderated the relationship between institutional competency mapping and organization performance. The conclusion made was that relationship management, emotional intelligence and innovativeness influenced performance of insurance companies in Kenya while firm’s culture significantly moderated the relationship between institutional competency mapping and organizational performance. The study recommends that management of insurance companies should cultivate, create, and maintain good rapport with stakeholders, develop programs designed to offer training and enhancement of self-awareness and promote high levels of adaptability to remain productive in the changing environment. The results of the study will be beneficial to the managers of insurance firms, their employees and the government as it shows the significance of competency mapping in stimulating performance of insurance companies in Kenya.