Does Regulating Distress Behavior Influence the Digital Transformation of Insurance Firms in Kenya?
Keywords:
Adaptive Leadership, Regulating Distress, Digital Transformation, Reward and Recognition, Inclusion and Diversity, Open CommunicationAbstract
This study investigates the influence of regulating distress adaptive leadership behavior on digital transformation within the framework of adaptive leadership theory. Employing a positivist approach and a descriptive research design, the study targeted a population of 392 supervisors from all 56 registered insurance firms in Kenya. The data collection tool was a questionnaire. A stratified random sampling technique yielded a final sample of 127 respondents (63% response rate). Operationalization of regulating distress behavior was via inclusion and diversity; reward & recognition; and open communication dimensions, while digital transformation was assessed through metrics of digital innovation, customer experience, and return on assets. Comprehensive statistical analyses, including means, standard deviations, correlation analysis, chi-square tests, ANOVA, and ordinal logistic regression, were employed to analyze data and test hypotheses. The ordinal regression model results indicated that regulating distress behavior accounted for 20.3% of the variance in digital transformation, as demonstrated by the Nagelkerke Pseudo R² value of .203. The parameter estimates indicated that regulating distress behavior predicted digital transformation, β3= -19.280, p ≤ .05. Meaning that this behavior had significant influence on digital transformation. The study recommends that leaders should regulate employee distress via inclusion and diversity, rewards and recognition and open communication to achieve successful digital transformation. To extend the generalizability of these findings, future studies should explore the applicability of this framework in other industries outside the financial service industry.
References
Adero, F. A., & Odiyo, W. O. (2020). Leadership theories and the desired competencies of the 21st century organization leader. International Journal of Business Management, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2(3), 16-35.
Assadullah, M. (2017). Considerations in establishing a rewards and recognition program for a multi-generational digital workplace in the United States: A critically appraised topic. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3027106
Bett, H. K., Ngala, B. W., & Kiruhi, T. M. (2020). No longer at ease: How digital organizational followers in Kenya are challenging contemporary leadership. Leadership, Education, Personality: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2(1), 23-28.
Bucata, G., & Rizescu, A. M. (2017). The role of communication in enhancing work effectiveness of an organization. Land Forces Academy Review, 22(1), 49-57.
Cappiello, A. (2020). The Technological Disruption of Insurance Industry : A Review. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 11(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.30845/ijbss.v11n1p1
Chillakuri, B., & Mogili, R. (2018). Managing millennials in the digital era: building a sustainable culture. Human Resource Management International Digest, 26(3), 7–10. https://doi.org/10.1108/HRMID-11-2017-0168
Dehnert, M. (2020). Sustaining the current or pursuing the new: incumbent digital transformation strategies in the financial service industry. Business Research, 13(3), 1071-1113.
Garg, S., & Sangwan, S. (2020). Literature review on diversity and inclusion at workplace, 2010-2017. Journal of Human Values, 26(1), 12-22. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972262920959523
Heifetz, R. A., & Laurie, D. L. (1997). The work of leadership. Harvard Business Review, 75, 124-134.
Heifetz, R. & Linsky, M. (2003). Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(3), 347–356. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1048-9843(03)00022-5
IRA. (2020, November 25). IRA. Retrieved from https://www.ira.go.ke/
Jekelle, H. E. (2021). An Empirical Analysis of Key Antecedents of Workforce Diversity on Job Performance in Nigeria. The Asian Institute of Research Journal of Economics and Business, 4(1), 193–203. https://doi.org/10.31014/aior.1992.04.01.331
Jesuthasan, R. (2017). HR’s new role: rethinking and enabling digital engagement. Strategic HR Review, 16(2), 60–65. https://doi.org/10.1108/SHR-01-2017-0009
Kang’e, M., Senaji, E. D. T. A., & Orero, R. (2020). Distribution Models And Performance Of Private Health Insurance Sector In Kenya. European Journal Of Business And Strategic Management, 5(1), 55-69.
Khattak, M. A., Ali, M., Azmi, W., & Rizvi, S. A. R. (2023). Digital transformation, diversification and stability: What do we know about banks?. Economic Analysis and Policy, 78, 122-132.
Kumari, Bharti, Jaspreet Kaur, and Sanjeev Swami. "Adoption of artificial intelligence in financial services: a policy framework." Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management 15.2 (2024): 396-417.
Koo, Y., Kim, S. J., & Song, J. H. (2022). The moderating effect of communication on congruence and incongruence of openness to change: Is communication always beneficial for learning organization culture and knowledge sharing? The Learning Organization, 29(1), 20-30.
Lee, M., Coutts, R., Fielden, J., Hutchinson, M., Lakeman, R., Mathisen, B., ... & Phillips, N. (2022). Occupational stress in university academics in Australia and New Zealand. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 44(1), 57-71
Meglio, O., & Schriber, S. (2020). Mergers and acquisitions: Rethinking key umbrella constructs. Springer Nature.
Meske, C., Kissmer, T., & Stieglitz, S. (2018). Global adoption of unified communication technologies as part of digital transformation in organizations: A cross-cultural perspective. Proceedings of the 10th Multikonferenz Wirtschaftsinformatik (MKWI), 133-144.
Mulyana, R., Rusu, L., & Perjons, E. (2022). IT Governance Mechanisms that Influence Digital Transformation: A Delphi Study in Indonesian Banking and Insurance Industry. In Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), AI-IS-ASIA (Artificial Intelligence, Information Systems, in Pacific Asia), Virtual Conference, July 5-9, 2022. Association for Information Systems (AIS).
Musheke, M. M., & Phiri, J. (2021). The effects of effective communication on organizational performance based on the systems theory. Open Journal of Business and Management, 9(2), 659-671.
Norman, M. V., & Johnson, K. M. (2022). The importance of employee inclusion: lessons for HR managers. Strategic HR Review, 21(1), 20-24.
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Roux, M. (2020). Leadership 4.0. In Maturing leadership: How adult development impacts leadership (pp. 7-35). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Snowball, J., Tarentaal, D., & Sapsed, J. (2021). Innovation and diversity in the digital cultural and creative industries. Journal of Cultural Economics 2021, 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10824-021-09420-9
Türk, A. (2023). Digital leadership role in developing business strategy suitable for digital transformation. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 1066180.
Wamburu, A., Nyambegera, S. M., & Kibet, E. (2022). Influence of gaining perspective dimension of adaptive leadership on organizationalperformance of insurance companies in kenya. DBA Africa Management Review, 12(3), 1-23.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2024 John Odindo, George K’Aol, Kefah Njenga
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
